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Episode 3 9

This Week in Venture Capital #39 with Babak Nivi & Naval Ravikant of Angel List; Jody Sherman, founder of EcoMom

Wednesdays at 2pm (PST)

Full show of Venture Capital goodness this week. Mark has Jody Sherman, founder of EcoMom in studio to discuss how he got into the business. Then Mark plays moderator between Angel List co-founders Babak Nivi and Naval Ravikant  with Jason Calacanis saying his peace about his recent tweets.

  • http://about.me/marx Nicholas Marx

    If a VC firm lost money before in a specific space and don’t want to “look unsuccessful twice”, then why would they take the meeting and waste everyone’s time? At the same time, why would an entrepreneur go to a VC who has lost money in the same space he is working in?

  • http://twitter.com/aventoro Bernie Lyons

    A great show and I had a few takeaways: a) Mark is a class act b) EcoMom’s path to funding via Angel List shows us that success STILL largely depends on your ability to network and build relationships

  • http://twitter.com/jodysherman jodysherman

    Nicholas, in order for Mark to be able to invest in ecomom, he first had to clear it with his partners. Because he’s part of a fund, he can’t “front run” a deal (i.e., put in his own money and then take it to his firm). He took me into GRP (where I had a few very good meetings and they very clearly considered it) with the understanding that if they didn’t invest as a fund, he would invest personally. Either way, I was interested because it gave me the ability to give my pitch to a firm for whom I have great respect and I either got them or I didn’t. Either way, I got Mark and he went to work to help me put my round together. There was no waste of time on anyone’s part.

  • http://about.me/marx Nicholas Marx

    Jody – thanks so much for replying and answering my question. I can understand why you would want to pitch to GRP whether they were going to invest or not. Why turn down a meeting with one of the best firms out there? I wasn’t familiar with the term ‘front run’ a deal – thanks for the insight!

    I wonder: After the meeting did they go over what went wrong with the last deal they lost money on, and provide you with tips on how to avoid that same demise?

  • http://twitter.com/jodysherman jodysherman

    They actually did speak to me very candidly about what they thought went wrong with that previous deal.

  • guest

    a great show. works well with a few extra people with differing opinions/philosophies having a conversation.

  • http://twitter.com/AndrewKorf Andrew Korf

    Great interview – Really enjoyed Jody’s insights and style. Great to have Nivi and Naval on as well – they are cool helpful sharp guys. I’d love to see some sort of forum or discussion of what the coming waves that VCs and angels are watching are, or what the big problems they would like to see entrepreneurs take a crack at solving.

  • http://twitter.com/AndrewKorf Andrew Korf

    Jody – you mentioned that you are doing some limited angel investing … what areas or kinds of start ups are you interested in? I would assume you are on angellist – I am as well.

  • http://twitter.com/AldoGrillo Aldo Grillo

    This was a packed show with 2 interviews. Jody Sherman’s interview was very personal & open. Clearly an inside look at an entrepreneur. Now I know the creators Nivi & Naval from Angel’s List.

  • http://twitter.com/jodysherman jodysherman

    Andrew, sorry for the late reply. We’ve been busy readying a relaunch campaign that goes live next week. The types of deals I look at are almost exclusively consumer-focused and social/commerce related. I like to stay close to areas for which I have a lot of personal passion and relevant experience.

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  • Asaramis

    Fantastic interviews, but one thing I’m always confused about…Sherman claims he was making 600k a year I thought with Lycos. With no kids, why do you have to fund a low capital intensive startup (not quite tech but you don’t need a factory) on credit cards? I am always amazed at the “funded on credit card” story with entrepreneurs, but doesn’t quite seem to fit here. apologies for the random rant but I’m curious.