BackStartups

Panel · Global & US

BG2

with Bill Gurley & Brad Gerstner

Two experienced investors — one from venture, one from public markets — talking through technology, markets and capital cycles without much filter.

Format Roughly fortnightly, an hour or moreListen bg2pod.com ↗

Why an angel should listen

The pairing is the point. One host has spent decades in venture; the other invests across public and private markets. The result is a conversation that connects what happens in private company financing to what is happening in public markets, which is a link most startup podcasts ignore and which entirely determines exit conditions.

For an angel the useful content is about cycles: when late-stage capital is abundant and when it disappears, what happens to valuations across the stack when public multiples compress, and why the exit window opens and closes. These forces set your outcomes far more than anything a portfolio company does.

Both hosts have long public track records of specific, checkable opinions, which makes their reasoning easier to evaluate than most commentary.

Where to begin

Start with these

  • Any episode on capital cycles or the state of the funding environment.
  • Discussions of the exit market — what would need to change for acquisitions and listings to reopen.
  • Episodes on a specific large company, for how a public-market investor evaluates the same business a venture investor would.

In short

Good for

Capital cyclesExit environmentPublic-private linkage
Listen at bg2pod.com

BG2: common questions

Why does public-market commentary matter to an angel?
Because exit conditions are set there. When public multiples compress, late-stage private capital retreats and the acquisition window narrows, and both of those reach your seed positions within a year or two.
Is it too advanced for a new angel?
It assumes some financial literacy, but the cycle discussions are accessible and are the part that matters. You can skip the security-specific analysis without losing the argument.