Lifeboat Ventures CEO and Managing Director Gopi Mattel believes we are now in the age of disasters. From natural disasters to economic crises to pandemics, Lifeboat Ventures is focused on solving problems through disaster impact mitigation startups. In this episode, Gopi provides a new framework for thinking about disasters and explains why the venture capital space is uniquely positioned to tackle these problems head on. He also breaks down the difference between venture funds and venture studios, and he explains how one of Lifeboat’s startups is addressing the California housing crisis.
Gopi Mattel is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and managing director of Lifeboat Ventures. He’s also the founder and CEO of CellarStone, Inc., a Silicon Valley-based company that provides solutions in the area of sales performance management. Gopi has decades of experience with starting and running businesses, and he’s spent more than 30 years in the technology and executive management space.
Key Insights:
- We are now in the age of disasters
- Why venture?
- Unique solutions to the housing crisis
- What are B-Corporations?
- Scarcity is a human concept
- Venture studio vs. Venture fund
Guest Bio:
Gopi Mattel is a serial entrepreneur and is the managing partner and CEO at Lifeboat Ventures, a venture studio for disaster impact mitigation startups. He’s also the Founder and CEO of CellarStone, Inc., a Silicon Valley-based company that provides solutions in the area of Sales Performance Management. Gopi is also the director of the Chennai, India chapter of the Founder Institute, which he launched. He has spent the past four years managing cohorts of startups, coaching numerous startups through the detailed steps from ideation to funding.
Prior to Lifeboat Ventures and CellarStone, Gopi founded Motiva, Inc., a pioneering firm in the Sales Performance Management space, which was acquired by Siebel/Oracle. He has decades of deep and granular experience in all the various aspects of starting and running a business, and more than 30 years of experience in Technology and Executive Management. Gopi has implemented Sales Performance Management systems for companies such as Allied Signal Aerospace, Clorox, Milwaukee Electric Tool, Hill-Rom, Transamerica Capital, among others. He has held management positions at Citibank, FSB., and The Gap, Inc. He serves as an advisor for Pepperdine University Graziado Business School’s Most Fundable Companies program, and is a contributor to thestreet.com. Gopi holds a Bachelor of Science degree and University First Rank in Geography and Statistics from the University of Madras, Chennai, India.