Amol Sarva (Knotel cofounder) takes In the Know to talk with with the angel and founder Fabrice Grinda about his 100s of startup experiences and mainly about systems — the system for selecting the right businesses for Fabrice, originally his 9 Business Selection Criteria along with its brand new update, and about happiness. Fabrice is a world-recognized expert on happiness, and we talk about the happiness of groups, not just individuals.
Fabrice Grinda has been called the most prolific angel investor in the world, even being ranked #1 in Forbes based on investment volume + number of exits.
He’s exited hundreds of millions of dollars from 500+ investments in companies like Alibaba, Viagogo, Tencent, Airbnb, Betterment, Uber, Fanduel & Palantir.
Before setting up his “startup studio” & investment fund, he started and sold multiple companies including OLX, the leading “Craigslist” marketplace of countries like India, Brazil & Pakistan.
But things weren’t always so rosy.
Fabrice shares stories of living on $2/day, living in his office because he couldn’t afford an apartment & missing payroll 27 times!
We also discuss the future of marketplaces, how he’d think of business ideas if starting today, the science of happiness, minimalism, and why we’re still at the very beginning of the tech revolution.
Show Notes
Here are five things to listen out for:
(1) Reasons to be optimistic – why we’re the luckiest people in the world to be alive at this time and why we’re only at 1% of the tech revolution
(2) Minimalism – from living on a 20-acre estate in Bedford, New York, to “island shopping” and then selling all his possessions – Fabrice has lived both extremes and shares his perspective on a healthy balance
(3) The Science of Happiness – factors that make people happy and hacks to maximize your own “mean level of happiness”
(4) The Future of Marketplaces – 3 trends in marketplace businesses and a framework for thinking about business ideas
(5) How Venture Capital Works – the typical startup investing cycle, from initial investment to venture capital funding levels at series A, B, C etc.
