E29: I sit down with Todd Klein (
@tdklein) who is a currently a Managing Partner at
@revolution Growth, a VC firm founded by
@SteveCase. He has been in venture investing for over 25 years, his notable investments include companies like
@Airbnb ,
@cava ,
@Square ,
@Pinterest ,
@customink
We discussed VC, AI, Board Meetings, Hollywood and more.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:44 - What have you changed your mind on?
03:19 - How capital has become a commodity?
05:28 -Why truly talented founders are a rare asset?
07:11 - How founders must evolve through personality transformations?
09:56 - The extraordinary velocity of job obsolescence
13:55 - Has the software industry gotten too big?
15:08 - Why AI will never replace human taste and judgment?
19:01 - Higher education: The value of "Camp" vs. credentials
24:16 - College campuses as a laboratory for microcultures
28:11 - Discussing Cava: Building a hospitality-first brand
31:40 - Controlling quality through slower, company-owned growth
36:29 - What makes for a great board member?
40:38 - What makes an effective, future-oriented board meeting?
43:22 - Defining a structural compensation philosophy
45:58 - Communication failures and bad board meetings
49:28 - Storytelling as the ultimate form of peer leadership
52:38 - Jose Andres and changing the world through food
55:54 - Importance of the founders background
59:53 - Hollywood 101: Insights from Anonymous Content
1:06:37 - Relationships as investments
1:11:05 - Identifying and solving for business model conflict
1:15:18 - Book recommendations