Mitch Kapor
Partner, Kapor Capital
Discussion
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
Hi, I'm Mitch Kapor, long-time software entrepreneur and investor, Partner at Kapor Capital and Board Member of the Level Playing Field Institute. Very happy be here today. Ask me anything about tech, diversity, or investing.
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Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
@mkapor Thanks so much 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?
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@ems_hodge Until I got to be in my 40's I NEVER followed anyone advice, often to my detriment. I have a lot of sympathy for founders who find it hard to take advice. What I try to do now is to understand where the founder is coming from, so my opinion as an adviser matters less than connecting to the world of the founder as she or he is experiencing it and going from there.
Kate
@katesegrin · Community @ Product Hunt
Who are some of the people who have had the biggest impact on your life? (Stories, please!)
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@katesegrin My partner and wife Freada Kapor Klein. She's been an activist and committed to diversity for decades. In junior high she cut school to picked for the farm workers when Cesar Chavez was organizing them. I came to my activism later and through her inspiring example.
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@katesegrin Heroes and Inspriations: Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, The Dalai Lama. Doug Engelbart (inventor of the mouse). In 1968 he did the mother of all demos with everything we use today. See you tube. Ted Nelson, inventor of hypertext. Stewart Brand, Whole Earth Catalog and many more things.
Cobby Amoah
@cobbyamoah · CEO, Obaa
@mkapor What are some new opportunities in digital health that you're looking at/interested in?
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@cobbyamoah Health delivery still so old school, opportunities to bring info tech are everywhere, but hardest issue is still business model -- how do you get paid. We've seen wide variation in business outcome in our portfolio not based on product/service quality or innovativeness but on whether it's possible to get crazy-ass payment/reimbursement system to support it.
neeharika sinha
@neeeharika · Google, Threadchannel
Hello @mkapor so great to meet you here for this AMA. I was wondering what are the big changes you believe in tech industry we will see in the next 5 years? Other than team what do you look for in an early stage startup?
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@neeeharika We look for huge future market opportunities that others don't see yet, like the personal computer in 1978, the Internet in 1993, and Uber in 2009.
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@neeeharika More AI and robots for sure, really. Connected smart devices everywhere. How do we leverage these trends to help people be better at what humans are uniquely good at -- being creative, for instance?
Alex Finkielsztein
@alfink92
Hi @mkapor thanks for doing this, I have two questions for you: 1) what do you think will be the catalyst that leads to growth in education technology? 2) what are your favorite books?
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@alfink92 If you haven't read The Lean Startup, you should. My favorite book from my childhood was Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I loved the AI that helps the moon colonists win independence. I didn't love the libertarian part as much.
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@alfink92 If you haven't read The Lean Startup, you should. My favorite book from my childhood was Robert Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I loved the AI that helps the moon colonists win independence. I didn't love the libertarian part as much.
Theoharis Dimarhos
@theo_dimarhos · Marketing+Biz Dev at AngelouEconomics
@mkapor Hi! What's your view on online schools/education? What are the elements missing that can make them grow exponentially?
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@theo_dimarhos They need to integrate the right amount of human contact: coaching and mentoring (delivered online). % of students who are complete auto-didacts, can teach themselves entirely by themselves is really small.
jhosehp
@jhosehprendon · Founder, Huespedcanino
@mkapor what is the biggest mistake you have ever made?
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@jhosehprendon I didn't do the job I should have in succession at Lotus. the concept of serial entrepreneur wasn't well understood in the 1980's. I build this big huge company ($250 million/ye revenue, 2000+ employees) in just 3 years and felt trapped by its success so I jumped overboard. In hindsight, so many others way to have leveraged that success without my remaining CEO. Look at Sergey Brin for instance.
Kingsong Chen
@kingsongchen · Founder at Lace, Marketplace for GovTech
@mkapor What are some unconventional industries or problems you are exploring?
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@kingsongchen Hello everyone. Sorry about the delay. I am doing this chat from a high school which has blocked Twitter so I couldn't authenticate to Product Hunt. To answer your question -- reducing the high cost of phone calls from prison to help the incacerated and their families stay connected - Pigeonly.
@mkapor @kingsongchen everything relevant I know today comes from Twitter, curious why a high school would block Twitter?
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@nivo0o0 @kingsongchen I'd have to guess that they're trying to keep the students from being distracted. Not sure how well it actually works.
Mike Street
@mrmikestreet · Thinker
Thanks for being here. How has the passing of Hank Williams affect the tech community? And what is the Kapor Center doing to keep his legacy alive.
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Mitch Kapor
@mkapor · Partner, Kapor Capital
@mrmikestreet Hank was the founder of Platform, like aTED conference for black and brown people. His sudden death a huge loss. We will be working with other Platform supporters and sponsors to keep the event and the movement behind it going.