Investing Lessons From Sequoia and The Importance of Machine Learning with Chris Mairs

Chris Mairs (https://twitter.com/Chris_mairs) is the chief scientist at Metaswitch where he has seen the company exponential growth over the last few decades including the raise of their first vc money in 2008 with the likes of Sequoia and Francisco partners investing, he is also a prolific angel investor and has an immense portfolio with the likes of MagicPony, SmartUp and Adbrain all being investments of Chris’. Chris is also the chair of Code Club and the UK Forum for Computer Education. Finally to cap it all off he is also a Fellow of the British Computer Society and a Fellow of The Royal Academy of Engineering. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1. How Chris made his way into the world of tech and then later angel investing? 2. What were the lessons that Chris took from his communications with Sequoia and Jim Goetz, that he has applied to his angel investing thesis? 3. Which element of the Metaswitch journey was Chris favourite time of the experience to work in? 4. How was the scaling process for Chris and Metaswitch in terms of hiring and maintaining the Metaswitch company culture? 5. Does Chris apply the same educational focussed hiring strategy to his founder assessment approach when he is angel investing? What does Chris look for in the founders he backs? Items Mentioned Today: Chris' Investments: MagicPony, Adbrain, Tractable As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com and see Chris' latest tweets here: www.twitter.com/Chris_mairs