#526 - VO - Alice Bentinck - Entrepreneurs First - The Founder Matchmaker

Retrouvez l'épisode en version française ici : https://www.gdiy.fr/podcast/alice-bentinck-vf/

She might be the most underrated founder in Europe.

Alice Bentinck has no massive press coverage.

Just 15 billion dollars worth of companies built quietly over 10 years.

Alice is the co-founder of Entrepreneurs First, the talent investor that finds founders before they have a company, before they have an idea, sometimes before they even know they want to be a founder.

The model sounds crazy.

VCs have told her it would never work.

But Entrepreneurs First has now produced 500 seed-funded companies, counts Reid Hoffman and Patrick Collison among its backers.

In this episode, Alice breaks down everything she has learned about co-founders: why breakups kill more startups than bad ideas, how to know in 48 hours if someone is the right partner, why three co-founders is the most expensive mistake you'll make, and why megalomania is not a flaw but a necessity in every great founder.

If you've ever struggled to find the right co-founder, or wondered whether the one you have is actually the right one, this episode is for you.

You can contact Alice on LinkedIn.

If you want to apply to Entrepreneurs First, you can reach Julia and Anastasia at: [email protected]

TIMELINE:

• 00:00:00 Finding founders before they have a company
• 00:11:37 The co-founder mistake that kills startups
• 00:17:42 The 3-founder trap: The most expensive mistake
• 00:26:22 How to know when to have that hard conversation
• 00:33:23 The Human Algorithm: How Alice spots potential before the idea
• 00:44:26 How to access American capital without losing your European soul
• 00:52:11 Scaling the Unscalable: How EF went from 10 to 100 companies a year
• 01:03:47 The Customer Secret: Why your location defines your speed
• 01:12:05 The 5-Attempt Rule: Why your first company doesn't need to work
• 01:19:53 High Personal Exceptionalism: You must believe you are different to succeed
• 01:35:46 The 996 Reality: Startups are the ultimate negative lifestyle choice
• 01:53:07 Methodical is Slow: Why European founders are focusing on the wrong things
• 02:01:12 The AI Performance Hack: How to manage your health & a $15B portfolio
• 02:08:20 The $1,000-An-Hour Secret: How coaching builds a high-performing team

We referred to previous GDIY episodes :

• #487 - VO - Anton Osika - Lovable - Internet, Business, and AI: Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again
• #500 - VO - Reid Hoffman - LinkedIn, Paypal - How to master humanity’s most powerful invention
• #429 - Nicolas Dessaigne - Y Combinator - Le berceau des futurs géants de la tech
• #483 - Carlos Ghosn - Out of the box : masterclass business de l’évadé du siècle
• #158 Edgar Grospiron - Athlète et conférencier - Avance, fais-toi confiance.

A few recent episodes in English :

• #513 - VO - Jesper Brodin - IKEA - 40 billion in revenue empire with no bank loan
• #500 - Reid Hoffman - LinkedIn, Paypal - How to master humanity’s most powerful invention
• #487 - VO - Anton Osika - Lovable - Internet, Business, and AI: Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again
• #475 - VO - Shane Parrish - Farnam Street - Clear Thinking: The Decision-Making Expert
• #473 - VO - Brian Chesky - Airbnb - « We're just getting started »
• #452 - VO - Reid Hoffman - LinkedIn, Paypal - L’humanité 2.0 : Homo technicus plus qu’Homo sapiens
• #437 - James Dyson - Dyson - “Failure is more exciting than success”
• #431 - Sean Rad - Tinder - How the swipe fever took over the world

We spoke about :

• Duolingo
• Entrepreneurs first’s portfolio
• Y Combinator
• Our documentary to understand the American Dream
• Au Royaume-Uni, l’impopularité du Brexit relance le débat sur les liens avec l’UE
• OpenAI to remove non-profit control and give Sam Altman equity
• Aztec
• PolyAI
• The 996 working hour system

Reading Recommendations :

• Fierce Conversations, by Susan Scott
• Super Founders, by Ali Tamaseb
• The Road Less Travelled, by M.Scott Peck
• How to Be a Founder, by Alice Bentinck
• A work in progress, by René Redzepi

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