Andy Weissman
Partner at Union Square Ventures
Discussion
M
Andy Weissman
@aweissman · stuff
Hi - I'm Andy Weissman of Union Square Ventures. I have been in the venture and internet business for about 15 years, so happy to talk about the olden days or the present or about music, books or culture, please ask me anything you want
upvotesharetweet・
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
@aweissman What are the 3 best and worst things working in Venture Capital?
M
Andy Weissman
@aweissman · stuff
@bentossell best: constant stimulation, great people, never ever boring. Worst: constant stimulation, LONG time till you know when your investments decisions work out, and the uncertainty
Diego Rodriguez
@metacool · Partner, IDEO
@aweissman @bentossell can you say more about "constant stimulation" and why it is one of the worst parts of the role?
M
Andy Weissman
@aweissman · stuff
@metacool @bentossell I find one of the downsides is just not having enough time to reflect, think, daydream. The constant activity can get in the way. As a friend of mine one said, sometimes life gets in the way of living
Julien Genestoux
@julien51 · Founder, Superfeedr
@aweissman @bentossell Good one: I *hate* very large feedback loops...
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
@aweissman Thanks for joining us today. During your career to date, what is the best piece of advice you've ever been given? Flip side - what's the worst?
M
Andy Weissman
@aweissman · stuff
@ems_hodge best: it's not where you start, but where you end. Worst advice: don't ever have regrets
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
Welcome, Andy! Your partner at USV, @fredwilson, recently wrote a piece about the opportunity in building a business based on lists. This topic is particularly interesting to me because Product Hunt is essentially a collection of lists.
What's your take on this? Who's doing it well and what areas of discovery or search are most ripe for improvement?
Harry Stebbings
@harrystebbings · Podcast Host @ The Twenty Minute VC
@aweissman as you know andy, I and @twentyminutevc are massive fans of yours, my question is what element of USV do you think has made you the go to place for smart money in NYC? Also, Kickstarter as an investment? How does that payoff when they have no exit strategy according to @ystrickler by the way would absolutely love to have you on @twentyminutevc in the future!!
M
Andy Weissman
@aweissman · stuff
@harrystebbings I think we are nice people and are known for sticking with companies throughout their lives. Kickstarter will figure things out I am sure, and we are patient
Jeff Tierney
@jeffreytierney · Software Engineer, Spring
Is a dream a lie if it don't come true? Or is it something worse?
M
Andy Weissman
@aweissman · stuff
@jeffreytierney only if you waste your summer praying in vain
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
Hey Andy! Thanks for joining us.
What's something you used to fundamentally believe that you now see as misguided?
M
Andy Weissman
@aweissman · stuff
@eriktorenberg what a heady question. I used to believe some things were black or white but now see everything is somewhere in between
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to yourself when you were just starting out in the venture business?
Kunal Tandon
@kunaltandon · kunaltandon.com
@aweissman can you give some insight into all the different hats you wear as a VC- how much of your time goes into meeting with potential investments, recruiting for existing portfolio companies, working with struggling portfolio companies, etc?
M
Andy Weissman
@aweissman · stuff
@kunaltandon I've never thought about this but I know realize I should. I would say 30% new investments 70% existing companies but as a firm we each are (and I certainly am) am close to capacity. Also, it does seem that more time is spent with companies that are still getting their footing than ones that that are in the groove
Jonathan Libov
@libovness · Union Square Ventures
@aweissman What thing or trend in tech have you been most confident would come about but never did? Put otherwise, what trend were you the most wrong about?
M
Andy Weissman
@aweissman · stuff
@libovness As Jeff Spicoli said "I know that dude!" Most confident that didnt - the primacy of instant messaging and IM bots. Been wrong about too many to count . . .