20VC: David Friedberg on The Framework for Business Value Creation, The Bifurcation in Venture Today That No One Talks About, The Impact of Interest Rate Hikes on Venture and Step by Step; How TPB Incubates, Funds and Exits The Next Generation of Companies

David Friedberg is Founder and CEO of The Production Board (TPB), a holding company established to solve the most fundamental problems that affect our planet, by reimagining global systems of production. Prior to founding The Production Board, David founded The Climate Corporation, a 10-year journey that culminated in their $930M acquisition by Monsanto. If that was not enough, David is the Founder and Chairman at Metromile and also sits on the board of Soylent, Clara Foods, Tillable, Cana Technologies and more.

In Today’s Episode with David Friedberg You Will Learn:

1.) Origins:

• How David made his way into the world of startups and technology from academia and physics?

• What were David’s biggest takeaways from scaling The Climate Corp to $930M exit to Monsanto?

• How did the exit put pressure on David for all future companies he builds? How does he manage that?

2.) The Macro: Venture + The Economy

• How does David foresee the impending rate hikes? What impact will this have on venture and the economy?

• What segment of the market will be first to be hit? Why is growth investing last to be hit? How does early stage play out in this very new environment?

• How will we see the velocity of capital deployment change in this new period? What does David believe are some of the crucial flaws of the venture model?

• How does David reflect on his own price sensitivity? What lessons has he learned from deals he has done or missed that have changed his perspective?

3.) David Frankel: The Business Builder

• What is David’s rubrik for business value creation? How has this changed with time?

• How mentally plastic does one have to be around the time it takes to see margins, unit economics etc change from negative to positive?

• How does David and the team approach building new companies at TPB? Where do they find the founding teams? How do they incentivise them?

• How does TPB approach continuous funding for the companies they create? What milestones need to be hit? How do they assess them?

• How does David approach liquidity with regards to exits for the companies they create? Why does their holding company structure mean they have different incentives to VCs?

4.) David Friedberg: Father and Husband

• How does David reflect on his own relationship to money today? How has it changed over time?

• What have been David’s biggest realisations on what provides him true happiness?

• How did having children change his operating mentality? What does being a great father mean to David?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with David Friedberg

David’s Favourite Book: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind