Ep 19: Startup Founders, Angels, Investment Bankers, and Silicon Valley with Vitaly Golomb

Ep 19: Startup Founders, Angels, Investment Bankers, and Silicon Valley with Vitaly Golomb

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In this episode, I interview Vitaly Golomb, a technology investment banker. Where he shares insights for entrepreneurs and what it was like growing up in Silicon Valley, and working in a printing shop that both Wozniak and Jobs visited.

Vitaly shares his first-hand experiences about Silicon Valley across the decades from the ’90s, the 2001-2003 lack of traffic, thru the mobility revolution and beyond. He touches on the unintended consequences of technology; immigrant entrepreneurship.

We discuss the differences between angel investing, venture capital, and investment banking – venture capital takes 6-8 years to get feedback on the decision you made; whereas investment takes only 6 months to get feedback. 

Vitaly shares his motivation to write “Accelerated Startup: Everything You Need to Know to Make Your Startup Dreams Come True From Idea to Product to Company”

Insight – “Lots of people come to Silicon Valley, thinking they are going to raise capital as tourists…It’s really kind of mafia rules. It’s really about trusting people…that takes a long time to get into the inner circle. It takes one or two years.”

Insight – “You really shouldn’t be chasing investors; you really should be chasing your customers. And focusing on building your business and the money will really come you will get noticed.”

Insight – “Tying your own personal identity to your company, can be a very dangerous thing. If the [startup] experiment fails, you feel like a failure. A lot of founders out there are miserable inside, dragging themselves out of bed, putting on a smile, and say they’re killing it to the outside world. My message to everybody is, You need to have a healthy separation between this experiment you’re working on and you.”

Insight – Investors have to have the rigor to how they judge investment. New investors need to learn this.

Insight – Founder on their second third startup have a much, much higher chance of success, they’ve learned the lessons that you can only learn by doing it that you can’t really, you know, learn it in class.

About the Guest:

Vitaly M. Golomb is a technology investment banker with over 20 years of experience on all sides of the table as a venture-backed CEO, venture capitalist, M&A advisor. Vitaly is the San Francisco/Silicon Valley Partner at award-winning global M&A investment bank, Drake Star Partners. He has deep expertise in the transportation and mobility sector, in addition to experience in artificial intelligence, software/SaaS, and advanced materials. Vitaly has founded several companies and, throughout his career, was involved in dozens of financing, joint venturing, and M&A transactions across North America, Europe, and Asia.  Previously, Vitaly was the Founder and Managing Partner of GS Capital and a Founding Partner at HP Tech Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Silicon Valley’s original startup. He has contributed to TechCrunch and Boss Magazine, and authored the best-selling Accelerated Startup. He is an in-demand keynote speaker and trainer on startups, venture capital, and corporate innovation. As the Executive Producer of the Startup AddVenture conference he organized large scale events across seven countries and appeared onstage as a speaker and lecturer in over 30 more.

You can find all about Vitaly through his links at http://golomb.net/links/

About the Host:

Philip Topham is The Savvy Founder. Philip has an inquisitive mind and passion for ideas. He’s impatient to see tomorrow’s future today. He focuses on helping technical founders unlock their pragmatic dreamer and develop their business skills and social capital.  With more than 25 years across start-ups and corporate roles, Philip has been everything from janitor to the Founder and Chief Everything Officer.

Philip, can be found camping, hiking, or playing billiards with friends; and he loves a good ‘international’ pot luck.

. Words of Wisdom

• Ideas are worthless; revenues are priceless; surround yourself with smart people.
• Life is a journey – mole hills or mountains? it’s your choice.

Connect with Philip at:

Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/philiptopham

Twitter – https://www.twitter.com/thesavvyfounder

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/thesavvyfounder

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/thesavvyfounder

Website – https://philiptopham.com

Free resources: 10 Most Fixable Pitch Deck Mistakes https://www.thesavvyfounder.com

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