The Conviction Punch with Eli Blee-Goldman(!)

A special chance to meet Eli, the third founder of Character, and learn about the inner workings of venture capital. This week on episode 6 of Jake & JZ we talked about:How Jake got to ride in the very first Waymo (when it was just a prototype on the Google campus)Jake’s rollercoaster of emotion meeting EliEli’s winding path to VC (it led through Botswana!), his famously good intuition, and “Eli-isms”Phaidra: Why we invested, how we work with the team, and the real value of a startup board memberWhy we use blinded scorecards to make investment decisionsJake’s annotated copy of the viral MrBeast production memo (download it here!)The importance of starting at the endAnd much more📩 Get an email about every episode at JakeAndJZ.com💸 Learn more about our seed fund Character Capital🥸 Find Jake on LinkedIn and X🤠 Find JZ on LinkedIn and XChapters0:00 Jake got to ride in the very first Waymo3:35 Jake & JZ’s impressions of Waymo in San Francisco7:55 Welcoming our cofounder Eli Blee-Goldman to the show!8:15 Jake’s rollercoaster of emotion meeting Eli10:35 Eli’s winding path to VC (it led through Botswana!)13:35 How Eli developed his famously good intuition 15:40 How Eli got his first job in VC20:20 Showing up and putting in the work21:50 A fine Eli-ism: The Conviction Punch!26:05 The mismatch between founders and VCs30:40 Why Eli got excited about Phaidra34:00 Wait, what does Phaidra do, anyway?36:15 Why we use blinded scorecards to make investment decisions39:30 How Design Sprints make startups more capital efficient42:15 The role of board members at an early-stage startup47:40 Why Eli decided to start Character Capital50:25 The viral MrBeast production memo52:05 “This is like Sun Tzu, it’s like the Art of War”52:45 Jake walks through his annotated version of the MrBeast memo57:05 Start at the end: Choosing the title and thumbnail BEFORE making the video59:55 Seth Godin: “Marketing is how we create the conditions for people to find what they are looking for”1:00:50 MrBeast and Lightning Demos1:03:00 Clickbait headlines and the feeling of success