TWiST #170 Jay Levy of Zelkova Ventures in NYC
While on a trip to New York, Jason got seasoned VC Jay Levy of Zelkova Ventures for a man-on-the-street talk about the state of the market, why NYC is a great place for startups and how Jay knew not to pass on Klout.

0:00-0:45 Thank you to GoToMeeting and MailChimp for sponsoring This Week in Startups.
0:45-1:15 I’m in NYC with our good friend Jay Levy of Zelkova Ventures.
1:15-5:30 Thank you to GoToMeeting for sponsoring the show. Jason demonstrates how simple it is to schedule a meeting.
5:30-6:45 Welcome to Jay. Tell us a little about Zelkova.
6:45-7:30 You mentioned valuations. They’ve been pretty low in the past few years, but now there’s been a big run up in NYC again, yes?
7:30-8:00 But there’s no way to temper that in a free market, is there?
8:00-9:00 You can’t blame entrepreneurs for trying to get a great valuation, can you?
9:00-9:30 Just two years ago rounds were were $1-3M, but now angel rounds are easily $6-9M.
9:30-10:00 Why is New York such a great town to start a company?
10:00-10:45 So the community counts for something? What are the downsides to being here?
10:45-12:15 What about Boston, DC and Virginia. Are companies putting developers there?
12:15-13:00 IPO market starting to heat up. What are your thoughts on the market and its impact on the startups here in NYC?
13:00-13:45 Were they consumers or speculators who lost money on the LinkedIn stock?
13:45-14:15 But no one put a gun to anyone’s head and said “buy these stocks.”
14:15-15:00 What do you look for in an entrepreneur?
15:00-17:00 What company did you pass on that keeps you up at night?
17:00-18:30 What is the state of the venture industry? Is it contracting or expanding?
18:30-19:00 What will happen to the five or ten person companies?
19:00-19:30 So we’ll have a lot of these zombie companies?
19:30-20:45 When I first saw Klout I thought it was stupid, but you’ve invested and now I get it. What didn’t I see that you saw?
20:45-21:00 Jason predicts that Klout will have a $150M exit to Facebook in May of 2012.
21:00-21:15 Thanks for joining us today Jay.

Support This Week in Startups and independent media by joining the TWiST Producer Program at TwistList.co!