After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:
1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
3. Real, actionable advice comes from those who’ve actually done it.
There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder.
Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:
1. To help founders make fewer mistakes.
2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out.
This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when you’re outside a major tech hub — all of it.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
All content for Fund/Build/Scale is the property of Walter Thompson and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:
1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
3. Real, actionable advice comes from those who’ve actually done it.
There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder.
Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:
1. To help founders make fewer mistakes.
2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out.
This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when you’re outside a major tech hub — all of it.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
How to Sell Your World-Changing Idea to a Mission-Driven Investor
Fund/Build/Scale
46 minutes 38 seconds
3 months ago
How to Sell Your World-Changing Idea to a Mission-Driven Investor
James Joaquin is co-founder and managing partner at Obvious Ventures, a VC firm that backs startups tackling intractable problems like climate change, chronic disease, and income inequality.
Their portfolio includes businesses that once sounded like science fiction but are reshaping billion-dollar industries. He says he's looking for technology that will “move humanity forward."
But this episode isn’t just about mission-driven investing.
James gets extremely tactical: he breaks down how Obvious evaluates founding teams, how he prefers to be pitched, and how your answer to “why are you building this?” can make or break your shot at getting funded.
He also shares a framework for balancing ego with humility, why startups die of indigestion — not starvation — and how his experience building one of Apple’s most famous failures helped him identify category-defining companies.
By the end of this conversation, you’ll have a clearer understanding of what top-tier VCs are looking for—and whether your startup has what it takes to earn a “yes.”
RUNTIME 46:38
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
(2:37) James unpacks the firm’s origin story: “We love to say that all great ideas are obvious in hindsight.”
(7:43) What “world-positive” investing looks like in practice.
(10:41) When it comes to a founder’s domain expertise, “I don't think that there's one single archetype.”
(13:46) What's something you used to believe as a founder that changed dramatically after you became an investor?
(15:15) “A lot of the work that I do at Obvious is trying to sniff through the veneer and the BS to get to that authenticity.”
(18:13) The most successful founders he’s bet on “were weird, and they were ridiculed by whatever industry they were in at the start.”
(19:40) Tactical lessons he learned while working at Apple for six years after they acquired his startup.
(23:29) Why generative science has “ become a key investment thesis” for Obvious.
(26:48) James is looking for startups that will “ output or generate new scientific breakthroughs.”
(29:42) “ You almost cannot think too large in terms of the scale that we're going after.”
(33:03) James shares the framework Obvious used to evaluate geothermal startup Zanskar.
(37:58) The firm’s sweet spot: startups that are “just one step away from commercialization.”
(42:31) “ We don't get lost in the noise of what's going to happen in the next three and a half years.“
(43:54) What kind of startup would he launch today if he wanted to change the world?
LINKS
James Joaquin
Obvious Ventures
Biz Stone
Beyond
Diamond Foundry
Virta Health
Zanskar Geothermal & Minerals
Gusto
Xoom
What is a B Corp? (B Lab)
SUBSCRIBE
Get the newsletter
Follow Fund/Build/Scale on Instagram
Thanks for listening!
– Walter.
Fund/Build/Scale
After working for years in early-stage startups and as a journalist, here are three hard truths I’ve learned:
1. Success in Silicon Valley hinges on connections, hard work and luck.
2. Startups often fail because founders lack fundamental business knowledge.
3. Real, actionable advice comes from those who’ve actually done it.
There’s no such thing as “founder DNA.” If you’re willing to take on risk and invest years of your life in something that has maybe a 10% chance of paying off — less if you’re a woman or person of color — you can be a startup founder.
Here’s why I founded Fund/Build/Scale:
1. To help founders make fewer mistakes.
2. To share successful strategies that can accelerate your go-to-market journey.
3. To inspire more people to see themselves as potential founders. There’s a lot of overlooked talent out there, and we are missing out.
This podcast is for anyone who’s interested in learning the basic skills required to launch a startup, secure initial funding and transform an idea into a sustainable business.
I’m talking to guests about everything: finding a co-founder, conducting customer discovery, recruiting early employees, developing a PLG strategy, fundraising when you’re outside a major tech hub — all of it.
Interested? Subscribe to Fund/Build/Scale on all major platforms and follow the podcast on LinkedIn or Substack to get articles, excerpts, transcripts and more.
