#26 Jeff Clavier, Founder and Managing Partner of Uncork Capital | Making It Real Podcast with Jan Brinckmann

Jeff Clavier began investing into early stage ventures more than twenty years ago and have supported several teams that have reached successful outcomes, among others Eventbrite, Fitbit or Postmates. He has founded Uncork Capital in 2004, one of the most prominent seed funds based in Palo Alto with over $500m under management. In today's episode, he shares with us the current and hottest investment areas he focuses on and why he is passionate about B2B SaaS enterprises. Also, he gives us his take on the current state of the European start-up ecosystem and his advice on avoiding the three most common mistakes made by early stage founders both in the ideation as well as in the product building phase. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffclavier https://uncorkcapital.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/janbrinckmann 00:00 Introduction 0:50 Why and how Jeff joined the entrepreneurship world 02:35 Jeff's reasons for moving to the US & becoming a VC 05:45 The first investment in the time of the Web 2.0 & impressive returns 11:25 Investment hypothesis: Coming from seed investments to also having a growth fund 13:55 On which sectors Jeff focuses his investments 15:35 The opportunity for B2B SaaS companies 17:05 Jeff's view on the European start-up ecosystem 22:50 Advices for founders in the early stage 25:30 How to find the right idea for starting a start-up 27:10 Common mistakes made by founders 29:35 After having the idea - how to build the product 32:45 Jeff's personal advice for getting into the entrepreneurship space 34:28 Quick fire round: Thing Jeff is most proud of; most useful software tool; what would Jeff be if not a VC 38:15 Closing