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Start-Up Ecosystem Taking the Pulse in North America
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00:00Nous serons en quelques minutes par Caroline Gouinette de Berklee Skydeck.
00:12Sous-titrage Société Radio-Canada.
00:18Bonjour.
00:21Bonjour Caroline.
00:24So good to see you, please have a seat.
00:27I don't know if you were able to hear the discussion with Pierre that we just had.
00:32Just a bit of it. It sounded fascinating.
00:35It was very interesting to hear how he compared and contrasted the startup ecosystem in Latin America compared to that
00:41of North America,
00:42which of course is the subject that we're going to cover with you.
00:45We've moved from Brazil now to California.
00:49But let me just offer a brief introduction, Caroline, to you, for the audience.
00:57So Caroline started her career as an entrepreneur and her first company, Neurofocus, was acquired by Nielsen in...
01:122011.
01:142011.
01:15And then subsequently, in 2015, she went on to become the executive director of the Berklee Skydeck,
01:23which we'll be talking more about, which is an accelerator and incubator in Berklee, California, of course,
01:29and affiliated with the University of California at Berklee.
01:36And we're going to be hearing more about your programs at Skydeck, as well as discussing trends that you see
01:45in North America.
01:47But before we do that, I have to ask you about your earlier career, kind of off-resume, as a
01:55concert violinist.
01:57I would love to hear what experiences did you have as a concert violinist that influenced you, whether as an
02:06entrepreneur or as an investor?
02:08Sure.
02:09So, hello, everybody.
02:11Can you hear us?
02:12It's really loud in here.
02:13Okay, excellent.
02:14We'll speak right into the mic.
02:17Welcome to our talk.
02:18We're going to try to entertain you greatly for the next half an hour.
02:23Let me start by talking about why did learning to play the violin teach me to be a great startup
02:29founder?
02:30I'll tell you, one word.
02:33We can talk about a lot of things that startup founders need to succeed, but I think we can all
02:37agree on discipline.
02:40Discipline and sacrifice.
02:42And learning to play the violin is pretty hard.
02:46And required a lot of discipline and sacrifice.
02:49I did not have a big social life in high school.
02:52I was practicing and going to concerts.
02:54So, that's the word.
02:56Discipline.
02:57Anybody here play an instrument in the audience?
03:00So, yes.
03:01And I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
03:03Or if you do sport.
03:05Anything that trains you to sacrifice and work daily will be a great training for you to be a founder.
03:14I'm curious, Caroline.
03:17A lot of entrepreneurs have to practice improvisational skill.
03:22And, of course, if I was speaking with a jazz musician, I would expect them to have had a lot
03:26of experience developing their skill as an improviser.
03:29But for a classical musician such as yourself, is improvisation also part of the remit?
03:36So, there's a lot of similarity between being a trained jazz musician and a trained classical musician.
03:42And the key word is training and practice.
03:45All of us in classical music and all of those great jazz performers have spent hours in the practice room
03:51honing their craft.
03:53We just express it a little bit differently.
03:55And I will say, for anything you do, the more you've practiced it, the more it's set in stone you
04:03know exactly what to do, the better you can improvise.
04:08Very interesting.
04:11So, let's shift now to Skydeck.
04:16Tell us a little bit about Skydeck and its special sauce.
04:22What makes it unique?
04:24I know you have a global founders program that has been very successful.
04:29I was impressed by some of the numbers I saw that graduates of that program, 50% to 75%
04:36of them are able to raise $2 to $2.5 million from USVCs in the months after finishing the program.
04:43How do you do it?
04:45Ah, here's our secret sauce.
04:47By the way, we have some Skydeck people here.
04:49We have an advisor, founders from our Berkeley program, our Europe program.
04:53Raise your hands Skydeck folks.
04:54And someone from our Skydeck dedicated venture fund.
04:57And my fiance.
04:59So, very important people here.
05:01So, here's what's unusual about Skydeck and really is our magic formula.
05:08We are a Berkeley program.
05:10We don't hang out next to Berkeley.
05:12We're not a partner.
05:13We are a Berkeley program.
05:14My staff and I all work for UC Berkeley.
05:18Number one.
05:19Number two, to fund the startups in our accelerator, we have a dedicated venture fund.
05:25That's Capucine with the Berkeley Skydeck fund.
05:28It's like any other private venture fund, right?
05:30It's got a general partner.
05:31It's got associates and partners.
05:33That fund invests in the startups in our program.
05:36And per agreement, signed agreement, the general partner will donate half of the fund carry.
05:43You all know that's fund profits.
05:45Back to UC Berkeley.
05:47This gets everybody very excited about our program.
05:52Because they know if I help one of the startups at Skydeck, UC Berkeley might succeed.
05:58Money will go to education.
05:59Money will go to fund our public university.
06:02And that is something that is uniquely mission-driven and inspiring for the half a million Berkeley
06:09alums around the world who enjoy and feel great satisfaction from helping our startups.
06:16So that's our secret sauce.
06:17The startupers that you invite to be part of the program or that you accept into the program,
06:22do they have to have had an affiliation with Berkeley or the University of California system?
06:29Very good question.
06:30So unlike most university startup programs, you do not have to be a Berkeley alum.
06:37You can be a Berkeley alum.
06:39You can be an alum of any of the 10 University of California campuses.
06:43That's a lot of people.
06:45Or you can be a founder outside the U.S.
06:48And you either want to come to our Europe program here in Italy.
06:53Or you can come to our Berkeley program and launch in the U.S.
06:56So we have lots of founders in our program who are not Berkeley-affiliated, but they serve
07:02the mission of the university because when they grow up and become the next Tesla, Apple,
07:07Google, we fund education.
07:11Now, as I understand it, you've expanded to Europe.
07:14You have a presence in Milan through your partnership with Cariplo Factory and Lendlease,
07:21I believe.
07:23Tell us more about why you decided to make that move and how that works for European entrepreneurs
07:32who might want to join.
07:34So when we were running the Berkeley program, we get applications from all over the world.
07:40And we saw lots of great founders in Europe whose businesses would be fantastic to expand
07:47and grow in Europe.
07:49And so we decided it would be a great idea to launch a program in Europe.
07:52We found some great partners who want to help us do that.
07:56We picked Italy partly because the partners wanted us to go there and launch at the underdevelopment
08:04Milano Innovation District, which is this huge development innovation.
08:09Hospitals, research centers, universities are all gathering there.
08:13And they wanted an accelerator with a global name like UC Berkeley.
08:18And so after negotiations and figuring out we had the same incentives, very important for a partnership,
08:26we launched about a year ago and we have several founders here who are in the Europe program.
08:32Are they mostly from Italy or are you reaching out to French, Spanish, Belgian, etc. entrepreneurs?
08:41Reaching out to everywhere.
08:42We love France.
08:43In fact, one of the founders here is from France and others from Italy.
08:46They're from Ukraine, even South America, Germany, UK.
08:54They're from all over Europe.
08:56So very international cohort.
08:58And how many companies in general are in each cohort?
09:02So we're a very large program between Berkeley and Europe.
09:06The Europe program takes about 10 startups every six months.
09:10The Berkeley program takes about 20.
09:13And that's every six months.
09:15So two batches a year.
09:16Plus we have an incubator program.
09:19We have a sponsored startups program.
09:21Between all of those, we're doing about 250 startups per year.
09:26So we're big.
09:28Tell us perhaps about one of your success stories.
09:32One or two of the companies that have come through the program and where you're proud of what they've been
09:38able to do afterwards.
09:40The one that probably everyone is most familiar with that went through the Berkeley program some time ago is Lime,
09:46the mobility company.
09:47They're Berkeley alums.
09:48I've heard of them.
09:51We've also had, the fund is fairly young, the Berkeley Skydeck Fund.
09:55But we've had some very good track record for Series A.
10:00Our company is growing very well.
10:02We have a company from Armenia that's reached unicorn status.
10:07A company from Indonesia called Zendit.
10:09So it's looking extremely promising.
10:13And I bet if I'm back here in four or five years, I'll have some big exit stories for you.
10:20Caroline, how has your experience as an entrepreneur helped you be more effective as the executive director of Berkeley Skydeck?
10:28Good question.
10:29I'd say the most important thing is that I understand the sacrifice that these founders are making.
10:36Having been there myself, having put all my money, my time, my relationships, everything in the middle of that table
10:47all chips in.
10:49That helps me understand the founder mindset.
10:51So a lot of empathy for entrepreneurs and the journey that they're undertaking.
10:57Yes, that's an important part of what we do in addition to connecting them to that huge network of Berkeley
11:04alums.
11:06So if you'll allow me, let's shift gears and talk about trends.
11:11So when we look at North America or California, of course, which is the epicenter of VC investment in North
11:19America,
11:21what do you see as the main investment trends?
11:25I think in the fourth quarter of 2022, there was about $38 billion invested,
11:33which was significantly less than the previous year, as we heard earlier with Pierre Sherman.
11:39But that's been a global trend.
11:41But it's still a lot of money that's out there for start-uppers and scale-uppers.
11:48So before a few months ago, we would have said energy.
11:54Of course, AI, enterprise B2B using AI, very popular still.
12:01Now there's the LLM and chat GBT frenzy, which is going to be life-changing for the world.
12:09And all of us in venture and accelerators are taking a very close look at it.
12:16A startup, any founders in this room? Who's a founder? Right on.
12:22If you are directly involved in LLMs, you are already asking yourself this question.
12:27But even if you're not, ask yourself, how does LLM and chat GBT impact my business or my customers?
12:36Everybody needs to be asking that question.
12:41So we're investing a lot in this area.
12:45I can't say what's going to happen. In fact, nobody can.
12:50What I can tell you about is a gigantic hackathon that we're sponsoring at UC Berkeley this weekend.
13:06We thought 500 people would apply. 2,600 applied.
13:14We thought we'd get a little bit of sponsorship money.
13:17We have more than we need.
13:20So it's a hot space.
13:24It's going to take a lot of investment, including from us.
13:27But like I said, have no idea what's going to happen with it.
13:31I think the founders here are probably the ones who will know when that happens, where it's going.
13:39So we hear about a lot of hype around generative AI.
13:43We also hear a lot of concern about generative AI.
13:50Do you see it as becoming a requirement for digital startups to have an AI story?
13:58Absolutely.
13:59Yeah.
14:00Because it impacts either you or your customer.
14:05So you must have that story.
14:10Maybe this is an unfair question, Caroline.
14:12Forgive me in advance.
14:13But is AI going to bring us a robotic concert violinist any time?
14:20I'm sure it will.
14:22I'm also sure we'll still want to hear the real thing.
14:29I'm sure we'll lose something in the translation when we move from humans to machines for classical music.
14:38What are some other trends that you see in North America?
14:43For example, the fact that it is becoming a tighter capital market.
14:48Does that also have a beneficial effect on entrepreneurs?
14:53Are they forced to learn to become more resourceful, perhaps?
14:57And is that resourcefulness leading them to become more creative?
15:02I would say yes.
15:03We're kind of back to normal where money is not being sprayed out from a fire hose.
15:11That means better companies, better ideas, ideas that will have traction.
15:18There was a lot of money thrown at iffy businesses.
15:23And that stopped.
15:24And I think that's a good thing.
15:26The general trend has tightened up very much for series A and later, but investments are still being made for
15:35seed.
15:36And in fact, the companies that graduated from our program just in April have the highest number of term sheets
15:43that we've ever had.
15:45So we're pretty pleased about that.
15:48That means our companies are looking good to investors and investors are investing.
15:52Are these investors mostly Silicon Valley VCs or do you also have relationships with angel investors, for example?
16:02Yes, absolutely.
16:03Angels are a very important part of our ecosystem.
16:07And plus, investment has become much more international.
16:11So we see investors in Europe, Latin America, Asia investing in our Berkeley founders.
16:19And we see founders from all over the world investing in our Europe founders.
16:25I saw a lot of big name Silicon Valley VCs among your partners, limited partners in your $80 million fund.
16:32And where do you stand in terms of your relationships with Europe based VCs?
16:40Yeah, we're developing that network.
16:42I'd say we're off to a very good start.
16:44We're always looking to meet more European investors.
16:48So if there's any European investors in the room, please come talk to us afterwards.
16:52And we'd love to connect.
16:54Okay.
16:55Great.
16:56Let's come back to some of the technology trends that you think are critical in North America.
17:04Is healthcare an area that you have a particular focus on?
17:08Yes, it is.
17:10And I'll divide that into three areas.
17:13Digital health, medical devices, and life science.
17:17And we invest and accelerate all three.
17:21I think digital health has been tough, very tough.
17:26I think that the healthcare system, this is not breaking news, but healthcare system is a little resistant to change
17:34at times.
17:35I think it's getting a little bit easier to push in there and try some new things.
17:40So we have some digital health platforms in the current batch that I think have a good shot.
17:46The other area, of course, that's been really driving innovation is CRISPR, right?
17:52CRISPR and genetic editing is a huge thing.
17:55There's lots of those companies coming out of Berkeley, of course.
17:59Our Jennifer Doudna, faculty member, won the Nobel Prize.
18:02So not surprising.
18:04CRISPR, of course, being the gene-slicing technology.
18:07Yes, exactly.
18:09So we see lots of activity there.
18:11Our fund is investing in that as well.
18:14And then medical devices is getting very interesting because of the ability now for these devices to become extremely and
18:22highly personalized.
18:24And I think we'll see some exciting developments there.
18:28So we've talked about healthcare.
18:30We've talked about AI.
18:34Is fintech, does it have a place in your portfolio?
18:37And speaking with Pierre earlier in Latin America, it's had a major impact on the investment scene and on society.
18:44Yes, for sure.
18:46We have several fintech in our portfolio and in our current batch.
18:50And also, we're still taking bets on crypto.
18:53We're taking very selective bets.
18:56We have a very active group of advisors who are helping us figure out, is this a real company?
19:02Or just a cool idea.
19:03But we've had some that have done very well that are in other markets besides America.
19:10One more category that we're very excited about is energy.
19:15We've had some very good companies in battery technology.
19:19And we're always on the lookout for the next big company that's going to either pull carbon out of the
19:24air or help us make less of it.
19:29So I have to ask you, as a female entrepreneur and investor, unfortunately, women are grossly underrepresented in both the
19:39startup world, in leadership positions, and in the VC world.
19:46How has being a woman been a challenge for you in your career?
19:50But also, perhaps, how has it benefited you?
19:54Well, I think right now, what I'm finding the most satisfying is that I can really help the female founders
20:03in our batches.
20:05Just seeing another woman who's had a startup and a successful exit is very important.
20:12I personally do a lot of the coaching of the female founders to help them understand what are those higher
20:20bars that we need to jump over.
20:22Because they are higher.
20:24Everybody's biased.
20:25Male or female.
20:26We're all biased.
20:28It's the way our brains are built.
20:29We can't help it.
20:32But what we can do is try to be aware of those biases and put them in the back door
20:39as much as possible.
20:41It's something we think a lot about as a Berkeley program.
20:44As you can imagine, this is very important to us.
20:47And we try to do what we can to make the world a better place for female founders and founders
20:54of color.
20:55Shall we see if we have some questions from the audience?
20:59Yeah.
20:59Love questions.
21:00A little improv with questions from the audience.
21:02Mm-hmm.
21:03Don't be shy.
21:05This is being live streamed to 10 million people, so this is your chance.
21:09That's right.
21:11To be on camera.
21:15How about from people who have, ah, great.
21:26My partner is very shy.
21:27He wants to know if you have plans to invest in startups in Brazil.
21:32Brazil?
21:33Yes.
21:35Absolutely.
21:35Huge country.
21:37Lots of founders.
21:38Our applications open the end of July.
21:40Please send all your founders to Berkeley Skydeck.
21:44Skydeck at skydeck.berkeley.edu.
21:50Very good.
21:52Other questions from the audience?
21:57This woman over there.
22:04Hello.
22:05Well, thank you very much.
22:07It was really interesting.
22:08I have a question regarding, yes, you are focusing on tech, but what about impact?
22:13Do you focus on impact startups?
22:15Are you interested in, or is there a specific program?
22:20I do understand.
22:21Impact startups.
22:22Yeah.
22:25Impact startups.
22:26Impact startups.
22:26Yes.
22:27Absolutely.
22:28We are-
22:29In the financial or environmental dimension.
22:30Yes.
22:31So I wouldn't say that that is a specific group that we're looking for, but I would say we're
22:38always looking for startups that are going to be impactful.
22:42We think startups in energy will be impactful.
22:46We think startups in healthcare will be impactful.
22:49I'd say we're not very interested in trendy startups doing a hot NFT thing.
22:56Right?
22:57We're looking for startups that are going to solve what we would all think of as a real problem in
23:02the world.
23:05Other questions from the audience?
23:17Hello.
23:18I was wondering, from an investment perspective, how do you deal with the megatrends that are super-fast now?
23:25So you just mentioned we're not going to invest in the hot NFT thing, but last year was all about
23:31the metaverse.
23:33Meta was the metaverse.
23:34Now it's meta AI.
23:36So this trend is happening so fast, you know, six months, a year.
23:40How do you deal with this hot trends, cool trends, the bull market, the bear market?
23:46So I think I heard you ask about the metaverse, and are we investing in that?
23:50Is that of interest?
23:50Yes.
23:52It's definitely going to be a massive impact on every industry.
23:58We tried a few years ago.
24:01I think the world wasn't ready.
24:03We're keeping our eye on it.
24:05Do you have a metaverse startup?
24:07No?
24:08Maybe.
24:08Okay.
24:10Yeah.
24:10We're waiting for the right startup to solve the right problem.
24:17We have time for one more question.
24:19Yes, sir.
24:20Thank you so much.
24:25It seems to me that we have a really diverse portfolio when it comes to technology.
24:30And I wonder what's your take on the deep tech that is going to have a very strong impact, not
24:38right now, but later in the future, such as nuclear fusion and quantum computing.
24:44Yeah.
24:44Startups that are going to have an impact, but maybe a bit early like fusion and quantum computing.
24:49We have invested in a few quantum startups.
24:54We haven't had a nuclear fusion one yet, but we certainly would.
25:00If we felt it was an investable startup, right?
25:03A company that with our resources and the funding of the Berkeley Skydeck Fund could then be ready for professional
25:10investment.
25:12Absolutely.
25:13We'd love to invest in those technologies.
25:15The deeper tech, the better.
25:18As you can imagine, there's somebody at Berkeley that is the world's expert on any subject, even very, very deep
25:27technology.
25:27So we take a lot of very complicated tech companies.
25:32Well, unfortunately, we've run out of time.
25:34Caroline went by quickly.
25:36It's been a pleasure speaking with you.
25:38Thank you so much.
25:40My pleasure to be here.
25:47Thank you very much to all our speakers.
25:49What a morning it has been.
25:51Just to remind you, we're back here at 2pm with the second theme of the day, cybersecurity.
25:56I hope I'll see you then.
26:10Bye.
26:11Bye.
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