Super Founders with Ali Tamaseb & James Currier

The NFX Podcast

In this episode, James Currier converses with guest Ali Tamaseb about his book "Super Founders", discussing the methodology and data collection process. They delve into the impact of socioeconomic diversity among founders, the correlation between success and academic or career history, and the venture capitalism game. Insights on overcoming narrative bias, the value of small failures, and the role of faith and adaptability in venture capitalism are also explored.

What started as a viral medium article from two years ago has now turned into 'Super Founders', a book on what data reveals about billion-dollar startups. Today on the NFX Podcast we have Ali Tamaseb (partner at DCVC) talking with James Currier about his data-driven approach to understanding what really differentiates billion-dollar startups from the rest.

The book includes exclusive interviews with the founders/investors of Zoom, Instacart, PayPal, Nest, Github, Flatiron Health, Kite Pharma, Facebook, Stripe, Airbnb, YouTube, LinkedIn, Lyft, DoorDash, Coinbase, and Square, venture capital investors like Elad Gil, Peter Thiel, Alfred Lin, and Keith Rabois.

Ali Tamaseb has spent thousands of hours manually amassing what may be the largest dataset ever collected on startups, comparing billion-dollar startups with those that failed to become one—30,000 data points on nearly every factor: number of competitors, market size, the founder’s age, his or her university’s ranking, quality of investors, fundraising time, and many, many more.

(0:00) Introduction and Guest Introduction (2:00) Ali Tamaseb's Background and Journey (4:11) Methodology and Data Collection for "Super Founders" Book (9:51) Solving Personal Problems and Creating Narratives in Startups (14:25) Socioeconomic Diversity Among Founders and Its Impact (18:55) Correlation Between Founders' Success, Schools Attended, and Previous Workplaces (22:02) The Venture Capital Game and the Importance of Building and Selling (24:09) Wrap-up of Data Analysis and Key Findings Discussion (25:22) The Value of Small Failures and Overcoming Narrative Bias in Entrepreneurship (31:09) Inspiration for Founders and a Deeper Look into Characteristic Levels in Venture Capitalism (37:21) The Role of Faith, Acceptance of Randomness, and Adaptability in Venture Capitalism (38:13) Closing Remarks and Future Plans