Revolution, Live. Anna Mason and David Hall of Revolution's Rise of the Rest fund - from American University

Macro Micro Michael Marco & Startups at the Edge (M4Edge)

And now, for something completely different… Our show today was recorded live at American University, with Professor Jeff Sosland and the students in his International Business—Global Entrepreneurship class. And our guests today come from another side of the tech world: the Venture Capital on which entrepreneurs rely to turn their ideas into a successful business. We talk to Anna Mason and David Hall, partners at Revolution Ventures’ Rise of the Rest Fund.

We talk about strategy, and what VCs look for as they try to identify the next big success story, the ideas worth funding among the many pitched to them every day. What makes a successful strategy? How do you build the right team starting with limited resources? Should you focus on perfecting your technology and protecting your IP, or on growing your market share as fast as possible? Anna and David will give us some enlightening examples of how some of their portfolio companies have evolved their strategy over time, identifying new opportunities and quickly adapting to capture them.

Rise of the Rest seeks to fund startups outside the traditional tech hubs like Silicon Valley and Boston. Anna and David explain why they believe the companies located in less tech-dominated areas might well have a better chance of disrupting some of the large traditional industries, from manufacturing to agriculture. And indeed some of the companies we have already hosted on M4Edge fit the description—can you spot them in our episodes list?

Professor Sosland and his students get a chance to pepper Anna and David with questions at the end—and to decide whether all they’ve heard makes them more or less likely to test their mettle as entrepreneurs. What about you? After you hear from two experienced VCs the good bad and ugly of startup ventures, do you feel more or less tempted to give it a try? Drop us a note on [e-mail] and let us know!