20VC: "How Being a Founder Almost Killed Me"; We Have Lied to a Generation of Founders | The Hardest Truths About Being a Founder Revealed | Why AI Co-Pilot is BS, Seat Pricing is Over & User Interfaces are Stupid with Christian Lanng

Christian Lanng is the Founder and Former CEO @ Tradeshift, a company he took from garage to unicorn raising over $900M for with a latest price of $2.7BN in 2021. Just last month, Christian stepped away from the company and is now Chairman @ Beyond Work, building a better work experience through AI native software. In Today's Episode with Christian Lanng We Discuss: 1. Burnout: When it Hits: • How did Christian know when something was really seriously wrong? What were the signs? • How did being a founder literally almost kill Christian? How was that not a wakeup moment? • How does being a founder make you so out of touch with reality? 2. The Things We Are Never Told: • Why does Christian think one of the biggest crimes is the myth • that everyone can be a founder? • What are the single biggest things about VCs that founders are not told? • Why does Christian believe fundraising is absolutely a game? What are the rules to win it? • What makes the best VCs? What makes the worst VCs? • Why does Christian not like to take a discount for a brand name VC? 3. The Chaos That Happens Inside a Company: • Why does Christian believe politics should not be discussed within companies? • What are Christian's biggest lessons on working with friends? Why after 14 years does Christian only have 3 friends that still talk to him? • How did Christian fire 50% of his leadership team and productivity not change at all? • Why does Christian believe US startups are inherently better than European ones? 4. Parenting and Relationship to Money: • Does Christian regret not being a present father for his child when building Tradeshift? • What are the two options as a founder you have when bringing up kids? • Was Christian scared to leave Tradeshift? How does he reflect on his relationship to money? 5. AI: Co-Pilot is BS, The Future Business Model and more... • Why does Christian believe co-pilot is the last dying breathe attempt from incumbents? • Why does Christian believe that per-seat pricing will die? What will replace it? • Why does Christian believe that AI will negate the importance of consumer-facing brands? • In what way does Christian believe that UI is total BS? How does it change over time?