20VC: Why Remote Work is White Collar Fraud | Why Revenge and Patriotism are the Best Founder Traits | Two Questions Every Founder Needs to Ask | The Wild Story of Raising $1BN from Masa Son in an Hour Long Meeting with Ryan Peterson, Founder @ Flexport

**Ryan Peterson** (0:00)
I say it's white-collar fraud. I have a three-year-old and a five-year-old. The idea that I could do any work at my house is like a total fantasy. Like, come on, you're kidding. I think the negotiation that we're going to have with Salesforce can be a lot different than the last one. I think selling SaaS to tech companies is going to be a tough business because we can build stuff ourselves. Revenge and patriotism is a great investment thesis. There's a lot of collusion in VC. Like, I have a feeling that most VCs actually collude more with competitors than with their own partners.

**Harry Stebbings** (0:27)
This is 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings. I've done 3,000 shows. The best guests have two things. They have high IQ and they do not give a shit. Our guest today is a long time friend of mine, Ryan Peterson, founder of Flexport. He's been on many shows before. I don't think he's ever had a conversation as open and honest as this. I think the friendship allowed for a much more authentic and transparent discussion. Where we touched on everything from Chinese open source models, is the CCP a risk? Why remote work is like white collar fraud? And so much more. Ryan was incredible. And this also goes to show why doing shows in person is 10x better than remote. Ryan in studio, this is one you cannot miss. But before we dive into the show today, meet Ava, the first autonomous AI BDR built by Artisan to run your entire outbound on autopilot.

**Jason Lemkin** (1:17)
Hey, Jason Lemkin from Saaster here. Artisan is S tier. We've replaced our entire outbound sales team with Artisan. I believe we've sent over 50,000 highly customized emails to Artisan. The open rate is twice what it was with humans, and they close 100k deals day after day.

**Harry Stebbings** (1:31)
Ava sources leads from over 250 million contacts, enriches every prospect with intent signals, then writes and sends personalized multi-channel outreach, self-optimizing over time. When a lead replies, she handles objections and books meetings straight into your AE's calendars without any human input. Artisan is backed by Y Combinator and has raised $36 million to build the first truly autonomous AIBDR. Hire Ava, the AIBDR, and get $300 in credits when you sign up at artisan.co/20vc.
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