Can one guy be both a wunderkind and an elder statesman? If anyone in the world of tech fits the bill, it's Kevin Rose. He made national headlines in 2006 as his site Digg soared in popularity and investors gave it a $60m valuation. He left Digg to found more companies: Milk, Revision3, and Pownce. Now at 36, he helps other entrepreneurs secure funding and develop their ideas - as a VC at Google Ventures, and eventually, through his extremely popular syndicate on AngelList. As of early December, he had 658 backers, to the tune of $2.8m per deal. When he sat down with Jason in November at Launch Hackathon, he described why he 'loves and hates' being a VC, and whether he's ever getting back into the ring as a founder, and tips for pitching your product to investors. Plus, the Bitcoins he sold when they hit $300! Never miss an episode! Subscribe in iTunes: Audio (http://bit.ly/TwiStA) || Video (http://bit.ly/TwiStV) Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/kevinrose http://twitter.com/googleventures ============== Thanks to our sponsors. Click here to tweet your support (can edit before sending): http://clicktotweet.com/ddiUv Audible, the leading provider of audiobooks with over 150,000 titles. Jason's book of the week is Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. Get your free audiobook: http://audible.com/twist. Then forward your confirmation to audible@launch.co to be entered to win an iPad mini, signed by Jason! And to Hiscox Small Business. Do you have the right insurance for your startup? Get it right now, starting at just $22.50 per month. Visit: hiscoxusa.com/smallbiz. ============== Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jason http://twitter.com/twiStartups LAUNCH: Launch Ticker: http://launch.co Launch Festival: http://festival.launch.co Special thanks to the members of the TWiST Backchannel Program! Highlights: 7:45 When you think about how innovative [Digg] was at this time. Nobody had really done voting in this way. 9:00 Jason: Things moved pretty quickly after that, you remember this cover [of BusinessWeek]. Pretty brutal, but it was the beginning of people seeing you as an entrepreneur. 11:30 Thank you Audible for your support. Jason's book of the week: Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. Free audiobook: http://audible.com/twist. 14:17 You did something I thought was brave... you walked away from Digg and didn't let yourself be defined as The Digg Guy. 15:47 Jason: So angel investing, you went on a tear. To what do you attribute your success as an angel investor? Because you must have objectively had a much better return as an investor than as an entrepreneur. 17:33 Jason: What do you think your value is an investor, and now as a VC? 18:12 Kevin: We've all been doing this long enough that you have a bunch of lessons that you try to pass on, and hopefully, help people making those mistakes. 19:32 Jason: What was that like [layoffs]? You had to do that at Digg, I take it. 20:25 How did you manage your own psychology, your own emotions, as you went through tumultuous times? 22:33 Thank you Hiscox Small Business for your support. Super easy, tailored coverage starts at $22.50/month. http://hiscoxusa.com/smallbiz. 24:25 Let's talk about this AngelList syndicate thing that came out of nowhere. 28:12 Jason: When you look back now, being on both sides of the table, what do you think makes people want to invest in a company? 29:30 Jason: What about execution now? Does your product have to look really polished to raise money today? 31:16 Jason: What's the scope of Google Ventures' activity now? Obviously with corporate venture capital, people get a little nervous, like hey, is the search group going to find out about this? 32:35 Jason: Why is Uber so special? 33:11 Jason: Are you enjoying it? are you enjoying being a VC? 33:13 Kevin: You know, I would say that I love it and hate it. I hate it when I see an idea and a team get so excited and they just go off and execute and you're like, Oh, I wanna get back in there... but it is also really exciting to find something that you play with, and for the first time you're like, This is going to be huge. And I'm going to be the first check into this business. This is going to be amazing, and have a great return. And that side is also really exciting. And you just know it's going to change the world. And you're helping fund something that's going to change the world. That's a really cool feeling. 33:50 Jason: Are we going to see another Kevin Rose startup? Are we going to see you as a founder again? What are the chances? Give me a percentage chance that Kevin Rose gets back in the game?

• published: 10 Dec 2013
• views: 878