The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
20VC: Why SaaS is Dead | Why AI First Companies Will Win | We are in the Middle of a Cold War for AI Talent | Why Europe is F******* and We Need to Stop Whining with Daniel Khachab, Co-Founder @ Choco
Mon, 28 Oct 2024
Daniel Khachab is the co-founder and CEO of Choco. Today, Choco’s AI platform facilitates half of all food traded in major cities like New York, Paris, London, and Berlin, cutting food waste and streamlining distribution. Since its founding in 2018, Choco has raised $330 million from Bessemer, Coatue (its first European investment), and Insight, reaching unicorn status within 2.5 years. Previously, Daniel was the youngest Managing Director at Rocket Internet, where he oversaw growth across Latin America, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. From Seed to $1BN in 30 Months: 1. We Killed a $BN SaaS Business to be AI First: Why does Daniel believe that SaaS is dead? What does an AI-first company mean? Why does Daniel believe AI-first companies will win the next 10 years? What foundation models does Daniel and Choco use today? How has the cost of using different models changed? What categories are vulnerable to being attacked with vertical products from the foundation model providers? 2. Europe is F*******: Why and What To Do: Why does Daniel believe Europe is at a massive disadvantage in the next 10 years of AI? Chips: What can Europe do to encourage chip production and manufacturing to take place on European soil? Energy: What can European governments do to encourage energy providers and new forms of renewable energy to innovate to provide the energy AI needs? Talent: Why does Daniel believe AI talent is the hardest problem that Europe faces? What can governments in EU do to resolve this problem? 3. Lessons Scaling to $1BN in 30 Months: Does Daniel regret raising at a $1.1BN valuation? Why did he throw a unicorn party with the round? Why does he regret it so much? What did Daniel spend money on that he wish he had not spent money on? What did Daniel not spend money on that with the benefit of hindsight, they should have spent money on? When your competition raises a lot of funding, does that mean you should also?
Full Episode
100%. I think SaaS is that. It's great companies, at least from headcount perspective, get smaller and not bigger. I mean, you go in a different country fighting for talent. That to me is Cold War. In Europe today, we're not producing the chips. We're not producing the energy. We don't have the foundational layer models. Now, the real downside to me is that it's at 1 billion mark.
once we become unicorn and people think oh we've made it like who the fuck wants to be a rainbow colored pony like i don't want to be a unicorn we need more long-term commitment as well like we need founders to say i'm gonna invest invest 15 to 20 years i'm gonna commit this now the best years of my life to make this happen this is 20 vc with me harry stebbings and today we bring you the story of one of the hottest sass companies
who overnight decided to kill their SaaS business and be an AI-first company. From why SaaS is dead, to why Europe is screwed, to the Cold War for talent, this episode is a cracker. I'm thrilled to welcome Daniel Kashap, co-founder and CEO at Choco, to the hot seat.
Now, since founding Choco in 2018, they've raised over $330 million from Bessemer, Cotu, and Insight, reaching unicorn status within just two and a half years. But before we dive into the show today, I want to recommend a book, The Road to Reinvention, a New York Times bestseller on mastering change. No time to read?
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