The Superpowers of Founders: A VC's Guide to Spotting the Best | James Shecter from Makena Capital

🕰️ Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 00:48 - Opening Question 01:08 - Challenges in Evaluating Founders 03:56 - Assessing Founders 06:58 - Market and Product Assessments 09:25 - Founder-led companies do better at later stages? 12:00 - The Importance of Quantitative Assessments 13:14 - Psychological and Motivational Discernment 16:24 - Value Creation in AI 20:30 - Framework for Assessing Founders 24:32 - Storytelling + Narrative 26:43 - Vision 31:35 - Inquisition + Curiosity 33:42 - Grit and Drive 35:40 - Do Founders really need External Validation? 37:51 - Irreverence for Status Quo 39:53 - Resourcefulness in Time and Money 41:46 - Magnetism 45:56 - Superpowers 50:32 - Not-So “Ideal” Founders 51:45 - Curiosity as Sign of Intelligence 54:45 - Adapting to Time Constraints 01:01:09 - Conclusion 📍 About: Born and raised in Philadelphia, James Shecter began his journey into entrepreneurship and venture capital as an undergraduate, where he served as a strategist and consultant for several student-run startups, including Seated and Transcend. He launched his professional career at Citibank in New York City, providing multi-stage M&A advisory services in the aerospace and business services sectors. Following this, he transitioned to Lee Equity, a middle-market private equity firm, where he was involved in various transactions within the fintech/insurtech and healthcare industries. Most recently, James worked at 9Yards Capital, a growth-stage venture capital firm based in Los Angeles, where he contributed to deploying over $50 million into fintech, logistics, and enterprise startups such as Chainalysis, LeafLink, and Remote HR. Additionally, he co-leads The MBA Fund, an institutional seed fund that supports entrepreneurs from the Harvard, Stanford, and University of Pennsylvania ecosystems. Since his high school years, James has been actively engaged in mentoring, tutoring, and coaching students from inner-city Philadelphia. He holds an MBA from Wharton and a BA in Behavioral Economics from Harvard. Outside of his professional pursuits, James enjoys surfing, reading, and writing, and is working towards building a collection of guitars as functional decor for his future home. 🔗 Follow us: 🏠Website : https://understandingvc.com/ 🤝🏻LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/company/understanding-vc/ 🎧 Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/show/1q7DxW3FEyP7EhH8m0VvAD 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/in/podcast/understanding-vc/id1551524895   💌 Connect with Rahul:  🤝🏻 LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy/ 📩 Email : understandingvc@gmail.com 🐣 Twitter : https://twitter.com/rahul0720   📍 About:  Understanding VC is a podcast that provides founders with the knowledge and resources they need to understand venture capital. Our goal is to create the best and most comprehensive resource on venture capital on the internet, so that founders can make informed decisions about their businesses and secure the funding they need to succeed.