20VC: The Memo on Children: Chris Sacca on Why We Are Breeding a Generation of Entitled Assholes, Harley Finkelstein on What Great Fatherhood Really Means, Deena Shakir on How Kids Make You a Better Investor and Anne Wojcicki on How Children Change Your Approach to Risk

Chris Sacca is the Founder and Chairman @ Lowercase Capital, one of the best performing funds in the history of venture capital with a portfolio including Uber, Stripe, Twitter, Instagram, Twilio, Docker and many more.

• Why does Chris believe we have bred a generation of asshole kids?
• What is the right way to negotiate with children? How has that impacted how he manages his team?

Anne Wojcicki is the Founder & CEO @ 23andMe, offering DNA testing with the most comprehensive ancestry breakdown, personalized health insights, and more.

• How did having kids change Anne’s approach to time allocation and risk?

Harley Finkelstein is the President of Shopify. Over the last 12 years, Harley has partnered with Tobi to the tune of building Shopify’s revenue to over $4.6BN in 2021 and the team to over 10,000 employees. 

• Does Harley believe he has always been a good father?
• What changes has Harley made to be more present and there for his children?
• Why does Harley advise couples therapy as early in a relationship as possible?

Deena Shakir is a Partner at Lux Capital, one of the leading firms investing in emerging science and technology ventures at the outermost edges of what is possible.

• What specific negotiation tactics from parenting can be applied to business?
• How can a parent show their children they listen, they understand and are there for them?
• Why does Deena believe children make you more productive and more efficient?

Eric Liaw is a General Partner @ IVP, one of the leading later-stage venture capital and growth equity firms of the last decade with $8.7 billion of committed capital and a 40-year IRR of 43.1%.

• What have been the biggest challenges for Eric of managing family and work?
• What have been some of Eric’s biggest lessons in terms of how he communicates about his work to his family?

Scott Dietzen is Vice Chairman of the Board of Pure Storage and served as the Company’s CEO from 2010 to 2017. Under his leadership, Pure grew to thousands of employees and
completed an IPO in 2015.

• What can parents learn from nature programs?
• What core elements of parenting are directly transferrable to management?