Aileen Lee
Startup wife, mom of 3, lover of music, and founder of Cowboy Ventures
Discussion
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aileenlee
@aileenlee · Cowboy Ventures
Hi! My name is Aileen, founder of Cowboy Ventures - we hope to be your favorite backer of seed-stage consumer & enterprise internet software startups (like Product Hunt!). We love founders/companies re-inventing work and personal life through new tech products, we call it "life 2.0". We also had something to do with this "unicorn" thing. I've worked in a few consumer companies and also ran a digital media company; joined VC firm Kleiner Perkins in 1999.
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Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
Aileen! Thanks for joining and more importantly for you and @Noah_L's support of Product Hunt.
Today we launched Product Hunt Podcasts, so I'm compelled to ask you: what podcasts are you listening to? 😀
@rrhoover goooo team PH! i am kind of a podcast newbie - was late to discover Serial and still discovering. recently listened to kara swisher's re/code decode, TED radio hour, A16Z podcast, and also listen to storynory podcasts and audible (listening to tales of narnia right now) with kids when i have them in the car...
Ray Garcia
@raygcreative · Founder @teleporme
@aileenlee I am a podcast junkie and listen to about 8 hours of podcasts a day. Some of my favorite include the @jaltucher show and also @patflynn at the smart passive income podcast. Love the addition of Podcasts to PH, @rrhoover .
Corley
@corleyh · COO @ Product Hunt
Hi, Aileen. Thank you for taking the time to join us today. You've had a very diverse career - how do your different experiences shape your perspective? And what is one of your most valuable lessons that you find yourself applying regularly?
Hi @corleyh! Wow that's a deep one - some quick initial thoughts: 1) i'm from am immigrant family - my dad's side of the family was very poor in China and they went thru a lot to make it to the US and build a life here. My mom's side was a little better off but she came to the US with no family and no financial support. I feel a huge amount of gratitude and obligation to work hard and make my family's hard work worth it 2) like many people i've not really had a master plan but been fortunate to get opportunities to work with great people in growing companies, and figuring stuff out along the way 3) developing and listening to your gut is one of the things i am always trying to work on, among many other things...
Shaan Puri
@shaanvp · ceo, Monkey Inferno
Hi Aileen,
How do you feel about the way 'unicorn' has gone viral? If I recall correctly, you were the first to use that term to describe $1B+ companies!
-shaan
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
@aileenlee Hey Aileen! Thanks for doing this.
What would you say are some startups that are essential to attaining Life 2.0? And which products do you use on a daily basis to improve your life?
@bentossell thanks for the first question! i'm super psyched to be doing this. Products i use in my "life 2.0" routines - Twitter; Accompany (sorry, still in private alpha :)); Evernote; Spotify...Waze; One Kings Lane; Streak; August Smart Lock; Uber & Lyft are just some of themmm
Michael Cho
@michael_cho · Cofounder, YAM
Hi @aileenlee thanks for doing this! What's your advice for startup entrepreneurs with young family (my baby boy is just 9 months-old and my wife has her own startup)? How do you balance work/family, given your experience as mom of 3 and VC work life?
@micoolcho - not sure if i have good advice - my husband is cofounder of a startup (renovo motors) and i'm working on CV, we have 3 kids, a dog, chickens, dead goldfish ... it requires decent planning / time management / communication skills but so many families do this daily juggle and they have way less resources than we do, so i assume we have it easy relatively speaking?
Michael Cho
@michael_cho · Cofounder, YAM
@aileenlee oh no! poor goldfish! you're right my wife and i are already very fortunate...just have to make it work somehow between the 2 startups and the baby boy :)
Sean Green
@disruptart · Founder, ARTERNAL
Hi @aileenlee thank you for taking the time to do this. For a B2B SaaS startup looking to get introduced to you and your team, what is the best approach? And, what metrics (MRR, traction, etc) are you looking for?
@disruptart as you have likely heard/read, a warm intro from someone who knows us and knows you is usually the best way to get introduced. we do read cold inbounds though at hello@cowboy.vc
mamoon from S+C partnership has a great slidedeck on Saastr about key SaaS metrics - would check that out in terms of what kinds of metrics SaaS investors (including us) are looking for - although we invest mostly at seed so our metrics are usually earlier or non-existent :)
Jon Sutherland
@jmsuth · Founder @ Growbell.com
@aileenlee Thanks for doing this! What products do you use for productivity (tasks, projects) in your personal and work life, and where do they fall short?
Irina Jordan
@irinajordan · Director of Inbound Marketing
@aileenlee From one mom of 3 to another, how do you instill entrepreneurial spirit and drive into your kids? Thanks!
@irinajordan i'm not sure we are - please let me know if you have any suggestions!
Irina Jordan
@irinajordan · Director of Inbound Marketing
@aileenlee We tap into what they love doing and let them try to monetize it: e.g. yoga, piano, selling drawings online:).
