169. Product is Paramount (Brian Ascher)

Brian Ascher of Venrock joins Nick to discuss Product is Paramount. In this episode, we cover:  What is your story at Venrock and how have both you and your firm evolved over the past two decades. Talk a little about Venrock and your focus there. You were a product manager at Intuit, prior to Venrock.. what do you think is the VCs role in shaping product strategy? What are your thoughts on SaaS investing and this increasing focus on the "Intelligent Enterprise" You wrote an article a few years ago called “Goldilocks and the 3 SaaS Go To- Markets Models”... what are the three flavors of SaaS go-to-market and have they changed since you wrote the article? Business Model: Price/seat vs. metered service vs. price for value We're about to close on our first fintech investment for fund I-- can you talk a bit about fintech and why it's so hot? Some have said that digital currencies and/or the blockchain itself will be as disruptive as the internet-- agree or disagree? Something we've neglected a bit on the program is long-term governance. What are your thoughts on Managing a Board of Directors and what situations have you seen play out-- for better or worse? What is the percentage of healthy, well-functioning boards vs unhealthy boards? How are chairman roles assigned/elected-- are they often explicit and how useful is it to have an official Chairman? To listen more, please visit http://fullratchet.net/podcast-episodes/ for all of our other episodes. Also, follow us on twitter @TheFullRatchet for updates and more information.