Antler VC Cast

In this episode, we talk about the future of remote and distributed work, the product-building models, and the importance of maintaining your core values as your company grows.To discuss this and more, we are joined by Sten Tamkivi, the Chief Product Officer at Topia, where he builds products to break down the barriers between people and places. Prior to co-founding Teleport (acquired by Topia in 2017) he served at Skype as an early executive and played a key role in its transformation from a startup to a leading telecom player with 300 million active users and a whopping $8.5 billion exit to Microsoft. A native Estonian, Sten has entrepreneurship in his blood. He started his journey when he was just 18 by founding Estonia's first digital media agency.

[18:56] Sten discusses the role of a physical office in an increasingly hybrid work environment [20:31] Sten highlights the principles you need to build a successful distributed working team [39:33] Sten shares his decision-making process when it comes to investing in early-stage companies Listen to the podcast to discover stories of exceptional people who are playing a key role in building and shaping the next wave of tech.

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In episode 16, we speak to Kevin Lin, co-founder of Twitch, the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. Kevin led the Twitch team as COO for a decade before serving as Culture, Strategy, and Innovation Officer, following the company’s staggering $970 million all-cash acquisition by Amazon.

In this episode, he shares his origin story as an entrepreneur, tips for early-stage founders and advice on how to create a culture of transparency in your startup from the early days.

How do you stay true to your identity and culture as your company scales rapidly? What’s the secret to success when building remotely and gathering customer feedback? Tune in to find out.

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In Episode 18, we speak to Nicole Quinn, General Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Lightspeed Ventures is an iconic Silicon Valley fund that has 10 billion dollars in assets under management. Nicole’s focus is on early-stage consumer internet and fintech companies, with a portfolio that includes mental wellness app Calm, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, Lady Gaga's Haus Laboratories, cult shoe brand Rothy's, Zola and Girl Boss.

Nicole talks about consumer behaviour that is going to stick post COVID, the incredible value of Influencer Marketing for customer acquisition, and shares her predictions for the next big trend in the consumer world.

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In our next episode, we speak to Josh Tetrick, founder of Eat Just Inc., a San Francisco-based FoodTech startup that is radically reimagining the way we consume meat globally. Eat Just is best known for its mung bean-based egg substitute called "Just Egg" and its “lab-grown” cultured chicken. In December 2020, Singapore became the first country in the world to grant approval of the sale of cultured chicken. Eat Just was founded in 2011, and the company has raised over US$650 million and had last been valued at US$1.2 billion.

In this episode, Josh talks about how he came to focus on the problem with food, solving massive challenges in the food industry and building a new universe of tools to supply food in a more ethical way. He discusses the hurdles to widespread adoption of plant-based meats, talks about the mindset shift towards FoodTech innovation that will occur in the next decade, and shares advice for aspiring founders looking to solve real problems in our society.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.