Shana Fisher at Startup School NY 2014
Shana Fisher speaks at Startup School NY 2014
Managing partner at Third Kind, Third Kind Venture Capital
Search every verified Shana Fisher interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote β each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. At the Startup School NY 2014 event, Shana Fisher, then managing partner of High Line Venture Partners and a board partner at Andreessen Horowitz, discussed her investment philosophy and advice for startups. She stated that she rarely blogs or tweets about her work and that she decided to speak because she is often told she gives the opposite advice of what people normally hear. Fisher advised founders to "build for today" while holding a big vision, and said that if it takes a year to make a product perfect, they should take that time. She also expressed support for single founders, saying it is "not always right to have coβfounders." Fisher commented on the startup ecosystem, noting that New York is a creative city with early-stage money but that California still has an advantage for company trajectory due to more middle-stage funding. She emphasized the importance of diversity, stating that founders should prioritize bringing women and people who think differently into their companies. On design, she remarked that "great design is getting homogeneous" and encouraged designers to push past common templates. She also described the "equinox" as the time horizon between when a company does not have to make money and when it does, adding that founders control their destiny by controlling either raising money or making money.
“One thing that's important for me to say before I start is I really never blog or tweet or say anything about what I do... the main reason I decided to come is because I often am told I give the opposite advice of what people normally hear.”
“When people are raising money, I like when they're raising money to get their company done by any means necessary β it's not about having 18 months, it's about making whatever you raise last.”
“I have a lot of single founders in my portfolio β I think it's not always right to have coβfounders; certain people that can take a company really far are better being a single founder.”
“Today, there's thousands of startups ... I actually think you should take as much time as possible to make your product perfect β if it takes you a year to make your product perfect, then you should take a year.”
“I love New York to create companies β it's a very creative city with lots of inspiration and a lot of earlyβstage money β but there isn't a lot of money in the middle stage; California still has a huge advantage for company trajectory.”
“Nobody knows anything, especially when it comes to investors β it's liberating because many great companies I found at first nobody else was looking at.”
“From a product development standpoint, it's really important to build for today β prioritize what you're solving today even while holding a big vision for the future.”
“Great design is getting homogeneous β if everybody is using the same templates, I want to see designers push past what everybody is starting to look like and focus on breakthroughs under the surface.”
“Diversity is really important β most founders are male, and founders should prioritize bringing women and people who don't think like them into the company because it gives you more views of your user.”
“I think of the equinox as the time horizon between when you don't have to make money and when you do β you control your destiny when you either control raising money or you're in control of making money.”
Shana Fisher speaks at Startup School NY 2014
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