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Hi friends,
Thank you to Taylor Foxman for the introduction to this week’s guest, Sid Banthiya. Sid is an angel investor and advisor to many consumer brands – like Aerflo, HOLY, and Splendid Spoon. He was previously the Chief Strategy Officer at Milk Bar and Head of Corporate Development at Blue Apron.
We focus this conversation on two of the articles he wrote:
We explore what happens when founders build for the wrong reasons, how investors sometimes fuel the problem, and why ambition (or lack of it) shows up in your strategy, not just your pitch deck.
We discuss:
00:47 Why Sid Wrote “Avoiding the Road to Mediocrity”
03:12 The Venture Trap: Chasing Capital vs. Solving Problems
06:00 Is VC the Right Path for Every Founder?
08:31 Fundraising Focus vs. Revenue Focus
10:00 The Rise of Too Much Capital in VC
13:10 Can Founders Course-Correct Their Mission?
16:00 Case Study: Hungryroot’s Strategic Pivot
18:25 How to Decide if You Should Start a Company
20:00 Bootstrap vs. Venture: When and Why
22:50 Go Slow or Scale Fast? What Founders Should Know
26:00 Investing in Hot Markets: Supplements, Protein & More
29:00 Valuation vs. Exit Reality: Why Price Discipline Matters
32:00 Waterfalls, Liquidation Preferences & Founder Equity
37:00 The Case for a “Better Business Bureau” for Investors
41:00 What Makes a VC Truly Valuable
44:00 Rapid Fire: Consumer Trends, Favorite Products, VC Myths
52:00 Sid’s Book Recommendations
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