20 VC 006: Google Glass & Founding Teams with Ifty Ahmed

Ifty Ahmed, General Partner at Oak Investment Partners. Ifty started his career with Goldman Sachs and Fidelity Ventures before joining Oak Investment Partners in 2003. He currently focuses on investing across the technology sector with an active interest in Consumer Internet companies.

*This episode was recorded before Google’s anouncement to stop producing Google Glass prototypes, making Ifty’s prediction even more impressive.

Items mentioned in today’s show:

• Super Crunchers: How Anything Can Be Predicted by Ian Ayers
• Blueprint to a Billion: 7 Essentials to Achieve Exponential Growth by David Thompson

In this episode you will learn:

• How Ifty got into the Venture Capital industry?
• What does Ifty believe are the must haves for startups, in order for them to gain funding?
• Why Ifty prefers to invest in a founding team rather than a single founder?
• What Ifty would recommed to to an individual founder starting a company?
• What are the uncomfortable questions companies should ask VCs before they accept VC funding?
• What Ifty believes a startup should do before a pitch, in order to increase the chances of success?
• What book would Ifty give to an aspiring entrepreneur?
• What advice Ifty would give a graduate wanting to get into the VC industry?
• What tips Ifty would give to about where to network with VCs?

We finish the episode with a quick fire round where we hear Ifty’s views on the future of Google Glass, the valuation of Snapchat and the potential for Bitcoin.