Jake & JZ

This might be our most tactical episode ever. If you’re starting something new, check it out! Not to brag, but it’s FULL of proven tactics for making big decisions about new projects.This week we also answered our very first audience question. Thanks 1sam1216! Have a question for us? Send it to [email protected] episode 7 of Jake & JZ, we talked about:Our Name Sprint process for naming your company or productA full walkthrough of our Name Sprint for Character CapitalWhy we chose “Character” even though it wasn’t a perfect match for our brand attributesHow to use Design Sprints to test risky non-consensus ideasThe importance of moving from abstract to concrete as quickly as possibleFinding conviction, not consensusAnna Karenina by Leo TolstoyAnnihilation by Jeff VanderMeerNPR Tiny Desk ConcertsAnd 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 finally reads Anna Karenina8:10 We visited Google again and gave a talk at YouTube!11:00 Presenting the Foundation Sprint for the first time14:00 Helping a founder build something new from day 0 in healthcare18:05 Should he go direct to patients?19:30 Design Sprints give you a chance to try something risky and non-consensus20:35 A lot people told us not to write a book, so we prototyped it22:10 Prototypes aren’t just for customers; they give founders a chance to see their idea live!24:30 Our first audience questions!25:20 Audience question: Do you have a method for naming companies?26:05 History of the Name Sprint from Google Ventures28:50 Walkthrough of our Name Sprint for Character Capital29:45 Step 1: Note-and-Vote on themes of potential names34:30 Step 2: Note-and-Vote on actual names (as many as possible)36:40 Jake did not vote for Character37:45 Step 3: Multiple rounds of voting to narrow down the set of names38:35 Step 4: Plotting names on 2x2 charts to evaluate brand fit39:20 We chose Character even though it didn’t fit our abstract brand values41:05 Step 5: Vetting final names with the pub test (aka the shaky cell signal test)42:30 Step 6: Final checks (web test, domain, trademark)44:30 Empty vessel names47:00 Collecting aspirational domain names (including jakeandjz.com!)49:55 JZ’s Wisconsin accent50:30 Lantern Ventures: a free brand for any VCs who love camping51:30 We chose Character Capital because we had conviction, not consensus52:45 A special thank you to Laura Melahn53:30 Jake recommends Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (the book, not the movie)56:00 JZ recommends NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts57:15 NPR Tiny Desk is the new MTV Unplugged

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

This week on episode 5, we talked about:The music you listened to between ages 12 and 20 (and how it’s the best, no matter how old you are)Revisiting the music video for Cannonball by The BreedersSpeaking at a Stanford BioDesign class led by the founder of Cala Health (we ran a sprint with them in 2016!)Lightning Demos, a quick way to gather inspiration for new solutions and a key part of every Design SprintThe amazing cover of Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath (and why Jake had a copy within reach!)A study showing how outside inspiration leads to better ideasThe three reasons Lightning Demos work so wellLightning Demo Demos — we do live Lightning Demos of three websitesShiny Object SyndromePlaydate’s hardworking headlineAligning your “why” with your customer’s “why”A great podcast episode: Seth Godin on Animal SpiritsAnd 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 XChapters00:00 Musical nostalgia03:40 Technology and pop culture06:08 Speaking at Stanford BioDesign08:15 Lightning Demos14:00 Outside inspiration leads to better ideas17:35 How we used Lightning Demos with Cala Health21:35 Lightning Demo Demos23:04 Lightning Demo: Oura Ring27:47 Lightning Demo: Fathom32:35 Making a palette of Lightning Demos35:33 Lightning Demo: Playdate43:55 Review of today's Lightning Demos45:12 The viral Mr Beast production memo47:27 Seth Godin on the Animal Spirits podcast

This week on episode 4, we talked about:Jake's train stationA disappointing dialog at the end of Diablo 3What’s so incredibly great about hoodiesTeddy Ruxpin, the original edtech product for kidsCuriosity Labs, a Character portfolio company building educational AI companions for kidsThe founding story of YouTube KidsGetting new product ideas from real-world customer behaviorTwo different ways to pitch the same companyShould founders follow “best practices” when pitching investors or try to stand out?Fathom’s Series AHow we found Fathom (and then decided to invest)Authenticity in salesWhy we go out of our way to pitch ourselves to foundersOur Design Sprint with FathomAlmond butter in oatmealA great book: Against the GodsAnd 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 XChapters00:00 A diabolical dialog box03:54 The importance of throughline05:45 Where is Jake's sweatshirt?!07:39 How sweatshirts work09:13 Teddy Ruxpin11:24 Building the pitch for Curiosity Labs17:04 How a side project became YouTube Kids22:49 A better way to pitch VCs33:56 How Fathom got to Series A40:30 How VCs do outbound sales45:48 How authenticity shows up in products53:21 Good beans57:14 An extended self-congratulatory ad for Character and Design Sprints