Earlier this week I got on a call with Nic Brisbourne, Managing Partner at London-based Forward Partners, which helps build and backs startups largely in the e-commerce space. Before that Nic spent 9 years at leading European VC firm DFJ Esprit.
We talked on a range of issues including what exactly Forward Partners does (is it an early-stage investor, startup studio, or both?), how the startup scene in Europe has changed over the last 15 years, whether investors should follow or lead, and the future of VC.
We also discussed Forward Partners portfolio companies Live Better With, Google Ventures-backed Lost My Name, and Dragons’ Den reject RightClinic.
(Forward Partners recently published The Path Forward, which gives a good idea of what they like to see from startups.)
Inspired by a recent blog post by Brisbourne — titled “Transport for London’s ‘Private hire proposals’ make me mad” — we ended our chat with a discussion about Uber and government regulation. When should governments intervene or get out of the way? And might we one day miss the iconic black taxi should Uber et al. lead to its extinction?
You can listen to the lightly edited interview below.