20VC: Twitter's Most Controversial VC Delian Asparouhov on Inside the Walls of Founders Fund: What the World Does Not See | Why Western Europe Will Be Like the Third World | Why SaaS as an Industry Might Be Dead

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Key Takeaways

• “Extraordinary careers, when you are junior in venture, do not get built sitting behind a desk in an office behind a laptop. You have to be willing to go meet with founders in person, figure out how to understand their business and how to convince them to even spend time with you when you are not one of the big general partners.” – Delian Asparouhov
• Startups must have a strong vision for the future of the world, and then build towards making that vision the reality
• Young venture capitalists do not focus enough on differentiation; many young VCs spread themselves too thin by focusing on a multitude of sectors
• In venture, you have no moat other than your brand; “US dollars” is the product that you deliver – a product that anybody else can deliver
• The number one thing that Delian has learned from Peter Thiel: There is always a way to structure your argument so that you are on the winning side no matter what
• “People love software because the marginal distribution costs are zero, but perhaps what people need to realize is also that the marginal returns are zero as well because there is no moat.” – Delian Asparouhov
• The only rule of the Founders Fund is that there are no rules
• Over the next 100-200 years, our biggest geopolitical and moral crisis is humanity speciating by way of artificial selection pressures (such as embryonic scoring and CRISPR DNA changing) and natural selection pressures (such as humans existing on new frontiers, perhaps in space)
• Say what you think; it doesn’t really matter how society chooses to react to it

Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org

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Delian Asparouhov is a Partner at Founders Fund and Co-Founder and President of Varda Space Industries, which is building the world's first space factories. At Founders Fund Delian has led deals in the likes of Ramp ($7BN) and Sword Health ($3BN) among others. Before joining Founders Fund, he was a Principal at Khosla Ventures, Head of Growth at Teespring, and Founder of a healthcare company called Nightingale.

In Today's Episode with Delian Asparouhov We Discuss:

1. Venture Capital: Winners, Losers and Everyone Else:

• Who are the Top 3 venture firms in the world today according to Delian?
• Why does Delian believe that Benchmark are not the firm they were?
• Who will be the winners in venture in the next 10 years?
• Who will be the losers in venture in the next 10 years?

2. Inside Founders Fund: What No One Sees:

• What are the most important and impactful elements of Founders Fund that no one knows about?
• What does Delian believe that the Founders Fund partnership will strongly disagree with him on?
• Why does Founders Fund believe the path of most resistance is the best way to make decisions?
• What single topic has Delian publicly disagreed with Peter Thiel on most? How did it go?

3. What Every Young VC Needs to Know:

• What are Delian's single biggest tips to young VCs looking to scale the VC ladder today?
• What are the five core pillars of venture according to Delian? What should young VCs focus on?
• Why does Delian disagree with Founders Fund partners that "the best founders do not need the help of their VCs?"
• Does Delian agree with Vinod Khosla that "90% of VCs do detract value?"
• What are the biggest ways that Delian believes VCs can and do detract value?

4. Europe Will Be Third World, Parenting and Marriage:

• Why does Delian believe that Western Europe will become like the third world?
• What are Delian's single biggest tips on finding a life partner?
• What have been the biggest changes to Delian since becoming a father?
• What question does no one ask Delian that someone should ask him?