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While more than 400 DDVC friends enjoyed our virtual roundtable discussion on startup success prediction live last week, I understand that not everyone was able to join us at that time.
To ensure that no one misses out on the valuable insights shared, I've decided to provide a recap of the major takeaways along with brief video snapshots below.
Access the full recording together with dozens of other videos, recordings of our Virtual DDVC Summit 2024, podcasts, our archive of 200+ deep dives, and more via our community platform The Lab here
Whether you're looking to catch up or simply want to review the session again, everything you need is right here. Enjoy!
Introductions
We started the session with brief introductions by our panelists, who each brought a rich background and unique perspective to the discussion:
Sandra Matz @ Columbia Business School: Sandra takes a Big Data approach to studying human behavior in a variety of business-related domains. She combines methodologies from psychology and computer science – including machine learning, experimental designs, online surveys, and field studies – to explore the relationships between people’s psychological characteristics and the digital footprints they leave with every step they take in the digital environment.
Megh Gautam @ Crunchbase: Megh is the Chief Product Officer at Crunchbase, a leading platform for private company intelligence. Since joining the team in May 2023, he has led a growing product team through an ambitious roadmap that includes Predictions and insights, an AI Search Builder, and integrations with key partners like Zapier and Perplexity. Prior to joining Crunchbase, Megh led product teams at Dropbox, Twilio, Bancbox (acquired), and Hearsay.
Francesco Corea @ ex-Greycroft & ex-Balderton: Francesco Corea is a post-doc educated complexity scientist and tech investor with 11+ years of data and research experience. He was recently the Director of Data Science at Greycroft and previously worked at Balderton and Anthemis Group, among others.
Academic Research and Its Implications for VC
To begin with, Sandra shared an overview of her latest research. She uses computational methods to analyze the psychological traits of startup founders and their teams, predicting how these traits influence the trajectory of startup success. Her approach not only provides insights into the personalities behind startups but also suggests how these elements can be pivotal in early-stage investment decisions.
Key Takeaways:
Psychological profiles are significant predictors of startup success, influencing everything from team dynamics to strategic pivots.
Early identification of these traits can guide VCs in making informed investment decisions, potentially leading to better-aligned founder-investor relationships and more successful startups.
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