Summary: Niko Bonatsos (@Bonatsos) is the Managing Director of General Catalyst, which is now considered one of the top 10 VC firms. One of the early deals that helped get General Catalyst to where they are now, led by Niko, was an investment in SnapChat. When working with other investor groups to raise funding during the early days of SnapChat, investors were skeptical to say they least according to Niko. “All of them would think, ‘Oh great, this is about sharing dick pics and sexting with your friends.’” While investors being worried about dick pics didn’t help fundraising, Niko thinks controversy is “great.” “It's actually a gift. If you leverage it over short periods of time and you graduated from it in order to jump into a new set of controversy for a new customer segment,” says Niko. “Basically, the reason why I like controversy in the early days of a newly launched product is because it amplifies word of mouth. A young startup that launches a product, frankly does not have the resources to do paid user and customer acquisition.” Make sure to listen right here to the full interview with Niko Bonatsos, and don’t miss out on this episode of OFF RCRD.Come back each Tuesday for new episodes of OFF RCRD.
