Basti Lehmann is the co-founder and former CEO of Postmates, the on-demand delivery service that raised over $900M from the likes of Tiger Global, Founders Fund, Spark Capital and Andreesen Horowitz. Following Uber’s $2.65BN acquisition in 2020, Basti founded TipTop, a platform for fast tech sales which Marc Andreesen led the $20M seed round for.
-----------------------------------------------

Timestamps:

(0:00) Intro
(01:39) Importance of Skill vs Luck
(06:49) Impact of Parents’ Divorce
(07:57) Source of Grit & Ambition
(09:25) Leading Postmates in Wartime Mode
(14:42) Importance of VC Brand & Leading Rounds
(15:38) Negotiating the Uber Acquisition
(18:55) Lessons on Getting Acquired
(22:25) Dara Khosrowshahi as a Non-Founder CEO
(25:02) Postmates Brand & Acquisition
(26:30) Starting a Second Company
(28:49) Selecting VCs & Raising Money
(34:02) Starting a Company with Financial Security
(39:30) VC & Value Add
(45:48) Running Board Meetings
(48:11) Hot Takes on Inference Computers
(52:31) Future of Phones & Vision Pro
(56:24) Future of AI & Startups vs. Incumbents
(01:03:58) Quick-Fire Round
-----------------------------------------------

In Today’s Episode with Basti Lehmann We Discuss:

1. From US Immigrant to Billion Dollar Founder:
How did Basti start his career hacking AT&T?
How did early hardships shape Basti’s work ethic?
What were Basti’s biggest challenges building Postmates?

2. Lessons from Raising $900M:
How did Basti raise $20M from Marc Andreesen?
How does Basti select which VCs to work with?
Why does Basti think 99% of VCs are sheep?
Why does Basti think great VCs add no value?
Why does Basti think having to educate investors is a massive red flag?

3. Selling Postmates for $2.65BN:
Why did Basti sell Postmates to Uber? How did the acquisition happen?
Was there anything Basti would have done differently?
What does Basti think makes Dara Khosrowshahi a great CEO?
What is Basti’s biggest advice to founders on acquisitions?

4. Future of AI: Startups or Incumbents?
What does Basti think is the biggest challenge of LLMs today?
Why does Basti think inference computing will be the future of AI?
Why does Basti think incumbents can be replaced?
Why does Basti think the biggest companies are being born today?
-----------------------------------------------

Subscribe on Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZ...

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...

Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter:
  / harrystebbings  

Follow Bastian Lehmann on Twitter:
  / basti  

Follow 20VC on Instagram:
  / 20vchq  

Follow 20VC on TikTok:
  / 20vc_tok  

Visit our Website:
https://www.20vc.com

Subscribe to our Newsletter:
https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/con...
-----------------------------------------------
#20vc #harrystebbings #bastianlehmann #postmates #uber #ceo #founder #venturecapital #businesstips #investing #businessstrategy #publicmarket #darakhosrowshahi #apple