DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, Harry Stebbings interviews Anton Levy, Co-President and Global Head of General Atlantic's Technology sector. Anton shares his background, including how he got into the venture industry in 1998 after working at Morgan Stanley. He discusses the lessons he learned from experiencing various economic cycles, including the dot-com boom and bust.
Anton talks about the two largest changes in the venture landscape today: the shift towards active versus passive investing, and firms moving across different investment stages. He analyzes the threat posed by passive investors like Tiger Global and how firms should respond. Anton also discusses portfolio construction, deployment cycles, and the impact of low-interest rates on valuations.
Additionally, Anton shares his insights on building a strong company culture, emphasizing the importance of leading by example and doing the right thing. He reflects on his favorite book, 'Bridge to Terabithia,' and its lessons on loyalty and sacrifice. Anton also mentions his most recent investment in Articulate, an e-learning platform.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Anton Levy shares his journey from working at Morgan Stanley to joining General Atlantic in 1998 and becoming Co-President and Global Head of the Technology sector.
- He discusses the two major changes in the venture landscape: the shift towards active versus passive investing, and firms moving across different investment stages.
- Anton analyzes the threat posed by passive investors like Tiger Global and how firms should respond by differentiating themselves and providing more value-added services.
- He emphasizes the importance of portfolio construction, deployment cycles, and the impact of low-interest rates on valuations and investment strategies.
- Anton stresses the significance of building a strong company culture by leading by example, doing the right thing, and getting to know founders and their execution abilities over an extended period.
- He shares insights from his experiences navigating various economic cycles, including the dot-com boom and bust, and the lessons he learned about risk-taking and value creation.
- Anton reflects on his favorite book, 'Bridge to Terabithia,' and its lessons on loyalty and sacrifice, as well as his most recent investment in Articulate, an e-learning platform.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “First of all, we hate losing money, which you could say, well, jesus, you know, you're putting money at risk. In fact, we should probably be taking more risk.“ by Anton Levy
- “I think there's much more that rhymes than doesn't rhyme. I think you're looking at unit economics, and whether you're looking at unit economics, if a company is doing 3 million of ARR or a company is doing 3 billion of ARR, I think unit economics are often unit economics.“ by Anton Levy
- “The thing that really your point about getting to know people I've known Adam, who is the founder, and Lucy, who's one of the senior principals, I've known them for a decade and I've watched them execute.“ by Anton Levy
- “The leaders of the firm need to live the culture and need to do the right thing always. And, you know, that's what comes across, I think, from entrepreneurs, because in a LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok World, where everybody's one degree of separation from someone else, all the best companies in the world can raise money in 15 minutes, particularly today.“ by Anton Levy
Entities
Company
Person
Product
Book
Episode Information
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Harry Stebbings
10/5/21
Anton Levy is Co-President, Managing Director and Global Head of General Atlantic’s Technology sector. Anton has led General Atlantic’s investments in the likes of Alibaba, CrowdStrike, Facebook, Slack and Snapchat and co-led investments in Adyen and Bytedance. As a result, Anton has been named to the Forbes Midas List of top investors each year from 2014 to 2021. Anton has also enjoyed board positions either as a member or observer in companies such as Uber, MercadoLibre, Klarna and Meituan to name a few.
In Today’s Episode with Anton Levy You Will Learn:
1.) How Anton made his way into the world of growth investing? What have been some of Anton's biggest lessons from seeing the booms and busts of the macro-environment?
2.) The Landscape: What does Anton believe are the two largest changes/trends in the venture landscape today? What does Anton think is the right way to respond to the threat of Tiger Global? How should founders think about active vs passive cash? How does Anton reflect on his own price sensitivity? What have been some of his biggest lessons on pricing?
3.) Portfolio Construction: How have GA had to change their approach to investing over the last few years? Why have they decided actively to move earlier and write smaller checks? How does a $50M investment from an $8BN impact portfolio construction thinking? How does GA determine which of their winners to size up into and write a $500M check? What is the process for that?
4.) Deployment Cycles: How does Anton think about the compression of deployment cycles in venture? Are people acting rationally? When will the bubble burst? How do interest rates impact capital inflows into venture? Why does Anton believe we are entering a golden age of innovation? What elements concern him?
5.) Culture- Building: What have been Anton's biggest lessons when it comes to culture building internally? Where do many make mistakes here? What have been the most surprising elements of scaling GA to Anton? What mistakes did they make? How did they move to correct them?
Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Anton Levy
Anton’s Favourite Book: Bridge to Terabithia
Anton’s Most Recent Investment: Articulate