In the world of venture capital, Brad Feld is a legend in the making. He is a partner in the Foundry Group and is a co-founder of TechStars, one of the world’s most prolific global tech accelerators.
Brad is also an author of several books, including Venture Deals, which he wrote with Jason Mendelson, and is now in its 4th addition. The book was as a response to the disconnect between founders and financiers in venture capital. Brad unpacks some of the key themes in his book but also speaks on many other topics. We begin talking about Brad’s endeavours, his relationship with art, and his journey with anxiety and depression.
We then dive into the motivation behind writing Venture Deals, and Brad sketches out some of the major movements associated with startups, the market, the internet, and how these are related to entrepreneurship and venture capital. Brad covers many other topics such as the emotional dimension of choosing to seed fund a startup, things founders need to have on lock before seeking institutional funding, and what advice he would give to earlier versions of himself.