2023-03-02 · auto-analysis (draft)

Venture Capital in 2023 with Dakin Sloss | EP #30 Moonshots and Mindsets

The conversation covers the criteria and timing for venture capital investments in various technologies, emphasizing the importance of timing and the founder's mindset. The podcast discusses the qualities of successful entrepreneurs, emphasizing resilience, adaptability, and the importance of learning from failures. It also provides advice on balancing big visions with practical steps and the challenges of starting a hardware company. The podcast discusses the importance of experience in raising capital for capital-intensive businesses, highlights opportunities in the energy transition sector, and explores the potential for entrepreneurs in biotechnology, particularly in longevity medicine and neuroscience. Dakin Sloss discusses the venture capital process, decision-making, deal pricing, and the success rate of deals, emphasizing the firm's unique approach and the importance of technical

▶ Watch on YouTube

Topics

Venture Capital Economy ▶ 0:00
Peter Diamandis introduces the podcast with Dakin Sloss, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur, discussing the importance of backing world-changing companies.
Prime Movers Lab Venture Capital ▶ 0:33
Dakin Sloss explains that Prime Movers Lab focuses on breakthrough scientific inventions that can transform billions of lives.
Entrepreneurship Economy ▶ 1:54
Peter Diamandis emphasizes the importance of entrepreneurs tackling big problems to make a significant impact on the world.
Investment Philosophy Venture Capital ▶ 5:05
Dakin Sloss discusses Prime Movers Lab's investment philosophy, focusing on high-science, world-changing technologies and providing comprehensive support to startups.
Technology Roadmap AI|Robotics|Space|Energy|Other ▶ 8:15
Breakdown of technologies coming to market, including advanced lithium extraction, brain-computer interfaces, and asteroid mining.
Timing of Investments Economy ▶ 8:30
Investments in asteroid mining are likely to be in the 2030s, while other technologies may be venture scale today.
Founder Mindset Other ▶ 14:50
Founder should be in love with their customer, not their technology, to succeed in business. Jeff Bezos' focus on customer satisfaction is highlighted.
Customer Focus Other ▶ 16:02
Importance of customer focus over initial idea in business success
Technology Valuation AI|Robotics|Space|Energy|Biotech ▶ 19:03
Explanation of typical valuations for different stages of technology companies
Tech Demos Tech ▶ 24:13
Tech demos are helpful for visualizing long-term visions.
Company Proposals Tech ▶ 24:27
Excitement about company proposals with billion dollars of LOIs and detailed engineering roadmaps.
Investment Process Economy ▶ 25:00
Investment process involves in-person meetings and a long-term relationship with founders.
Entrepreneur Mindset Other ▶ 31:00
Looking for driven, resilient, and adaptive entrepreneurs for investment.
Failure and Learning Economy ▶ [35:00]
Entrepreneurs who can fail gracefully and turn failures into learning opportunities are more likely to succeed.

Predictions made

open Dakin Sloss:
EP #? · · due: unspecified · ▶ watch
“But uh we we have a space-based solar company for example, which if you ask anybody about that, you know, 24 months ago, they would have thought you were just totally nuts.”
Your call:
open Dakin Sloss: Technologies they are investing in will be $10 billion plus businesses.
EP #? · · due: unspecified · ▶ watch
“But, when you just as an entrepreneur, if you're communicating with a venture capital firm, you have to understand power law returns.”
Your call:
open Dakin Sloss: Micro adjustments in strategy will happen during the diligence process, leading to successful pivots.
EP #? · · due: unspecified · ▶ watch
“You see the the pivoting micro pivoting happening. You know, ideally you don't want to have to make huge pivots. You want to make micro pivots, and like that is adding up to the huge pivot.”
Your call:
open Dakin Sloss: First-time entrepreneurs will progress in their career and build their skill set, eventually setting themselves up for bigger challenges.
EP #? · · due: unspecified · ▶ watch
“you have to progress in your own career and build your skill set and there's nothing wrong with that”
Your call:
open Dakin Sloss: Exciting developments in psychedelic medicine and brain-computer interfaces will continue to accelerate over the coming decade.
EP #? · · due: coming decade · ▶ watch
“I think there are extraordinarily exciting things happening in psychedelic medicine, brain computer interfaces, non-invasive devices to address this that are only going to continue to accelerate over the coming decade.”
Your call:
open Dakin Sloss: Typically, one to two deals out of ten are expected to be wildly successful.
EP #? · · due: unspecified · ▶ watch
“Usually you get one or two, but three are breaking out as huge successes.”
Your call:
open Peter Diamandis: A number of new funds will shut down due to market corrections.
EP #? · · due: unspecified · ▶ watch
“You have series B and series C valuations down 70 to 80%. You have series A down 40%, seed 20%. ”
Your call:
open Unknown: Energy Vault and Heliogen will continue to scale out their technologies to a larger customer base.
EP #? · · due: unspecified · ▶ watch
“They're not just ideas, they're demonstrated technologies and now they're just scaling them out to that customer base.”
Your call:
open Dakin Sloss: The speed at which fusion and space companies are moving will continue to increase.
EP #? · · due: unspecified · ▶ watch
“It's amazing. It's amazing.”
Your call:
open Dakin Sloss: The roadmaps published by Prime Movers Labs will be a valuable resource for entrepreneurs.
EP #? · · due: unspecified · ▶ watch
“Beautiful. Ladies and gentlemen, a dear friend, a brilliant venture capitalist and entrepreneur, philanthropist, Dakin Sloss.”
Your call:

Numbers that matter