What do we look for in a founder and their product at Yes VC? Jyri answers this question, among many others, on Investor Connect.
by caterina
What do we look for in a founder and their product at Yes VC? Jyri answers this question, among many others, on Investor Connect.
The first episode of our new podcast, Should This Exist? is out! It’s a brand new kind of pitch show, where the entrepreneur pitches not just the business case, but the human case for their technology. Please listen and subscribe!
Caterina’s guest in the first episode is neurotech entrepreneur Daniel Chao, CEO of Halo Neuroscience. Halo is a headset that enhances the neuroplasticity of the motor cortex in your brain. It could bring about the dystopia of Gattaca, where only a select few get superhuman abilities… or usher in a new golden age where millions are virtuosos.
The show is produced in partnership with Quartz – here’s Caterina’s Quartz article on the question of our times, setting the stage for the show. The Executive Producers are June Cohen and Deron Triff, co-founders of WaitWhat, the media company behind Reid Hoffman’s Masters of Scale (June and Deron formerly ran media at TED for a combined 16 years).
Each episode will introduce a new entrepreneur pitching their technology, and there are some game-changers in the pipeline!
Our portfolio company Public Goods launched its line of low-cost organic foods. One membership now gets you all of the essentials that people need and use every month. Give it a try!
Last week, Caterina was awarded the Visionary Award by Silicon Valley Forum, along with academic Vivek Wadhwa, Black Girls Code founder Kimberly Bryant and Google X “Captain of Moonshots” Astro Teller. This award has been given for 21 years now, and many Valley legends have received it– Bill Gates, Donna Dubinsky, Kay Koplovitz, Elon Musk, and Reid Hoffman to name a few.
Each of the Visionaries talked about how the Valley has strayed from its path, how its idealism has been lost. Right now the Valley is going through a period of self examination–like an adolescent coming into self awareness for the first time. It is a time when leaders are questioned and some toppled, but also carries within its disillusionment a new chance for the next wave of founders and builders to create things that are better. In Fast Company, Caterina summed this up: “With the poor reputation of the Valley right now, there couldn’t be a bigger opportunity to correct mistakes and reinvent the future.”
When we called our firm Yes VC, what were we saying yes to? In her acceptance speech, Caterina presented a vision of a reborn Silicon Valley, and how to bring it about:
“Astonish us with your genius. Inspire us with your creation. Fight lies, promote truth. Expand possibility. Dream, create, struggle, prevail. Work with one another. Bring everyone you can with you into the future. Share your privilege. Be loving. Be generous. Be compassionate. Be brave. This is your work.”
Yes to a humbler, more generous, more loving, braver Valley.
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