The Logan Bartlett Show

EP 90: Eric Vishria (General Partner, Benchmark Capital) Behind The Scenes of Benchmark’s Boldest Bets

Episode Notes

Eric Vishria and I both got into venture in 2014 and both focus on enterprise software. In episode 90, we discuss Eric’s unique approach to investments and what he looks for in founders and companies.

We go back and forth on his model versus mine, as well as Eric's background, having grown up in Memphis and graduating from Stanford at 19 years old before joining LoudCloud, which became Opsware with Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen.

(0:00) Intro

(1:20) The role of venture capitalists

(5:52) Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs

(12:00) commonalities in investments that you haven't done

(14:05) The best CEOs

(17:40) The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Business

(21:16) The role of market trends in investment decisions

(27:46) Reflecting on investment successes

(39:41) Benefits as an investor vs board member

(42:17) From Memphis to Stanford

(44:29) The early days at LoudCloud

(46:49) The Aspiration to be a Great CEO

(49:33) The Journey to Joining Benchmark

(53:20) Bringing new people to Benchmark

(1:01:26) The Evolution of Early Stage Investing

(1:14:07) What career advice would you give?

(1:19:56) The value of Benchmark’s Dinners

 

Produced: Rashad Assir & Leah Clapper

Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky

Executive Producer: Josh Machiz

 

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About the Show

Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes.