Recapping Universo della Famiglia 2021 (Part 1): Top #10 Highlights

Join us for a highlights reel of our Universo della Famiglia 2021. We bring you the top insights of the day and the nuggets of wisdom you may have missed from the likes of John Collison (Stripe), Nat Friedman (GitHub), Hemant Taneja (General Catalyst), Alex Bouaziz (Deel), Hanno Renner (Personio) and more.

There’s no better time than the start of a new year to look back on the old.

2022 has kicked off with an exciting flurry of new startups, more funding and curious anticipation for what the year will bring. Before you dive back into that founder call or investment pitch, why don’t you grab an espresso (or aperol spritz) and rewind with us to the top highlights of our very own Universo della Famiglia 2021.

You can watch the full video here.

Here are our top #10 highlights.

1 COVID became the time where it became not optional for more traditional companies to figure out their digital strategy. The question today is: Can traditional companies get good at software faster than software companies get good at traditional industry? (John Collison, Stripe)

2 At the early stage, you need three things: (1) Not fight with your co-founder, (2) find product-market-fit, and (3) not run out of money. Mistakes are often made on the first two. (Elad Gil, Color Genomics)

3 To scale rapidly, you need to (1) be customer obsessed, (2) hire right, and (3) be mission-centric. (Alex Bouaziz, Deel)

4 There’s a false choice between great impact and great financial return. Responsible innovation is a mindset with which we build companies for growth and good. (Hemant Taneja, General Catalyst)

5 Venture is about picking the right trends, and if the tide is strong enough, it will lift all boats. (Philippe Botteri, Accel)

6 Founders are now raising more money than they need to and not thinking about the dilution. You can raise more money, but you can’t raise more equity. Be thoughtful about how much company you’re giving up at each round. (Elad Gil, Color Genomics)

7 Raw energy is the largest predictor in great founders that’s often overlooked. (Daniel Gross, Pioneer)

8When it comes to AI in Europe, while there’s no lack of human capital, there may be a lack of actual capital, conviction, and courage. Europeans seem to be more worried about the problems of technology than the promise of technology. However, breakthroughs do require conviction, as you have to be willing to spend millions to bring these big machine learning models on the street. (Nat Friedman, Github)

9If you’ve got the talent, the money will follow. Invest in your high potentials by: (1) Having (or helping) them maximize their number of serendipitous encounters; (2) Raising their level of ambition by sharing your sense of what is possible. (Tyler Cowen, Professor of Economics at George Mason University)

10Challenge yourself an extra 10% every day and over time you will feel more comfortable where you were uncomfortable before. (Sara Spangelo, Swarm Technologies)