Mountaineering is a sport that draws a lot of comparisons. Climbing can be done as a lark or as a well-planned expedition. Sometimes even the best-planned climbs can end in disaster due to one wrong choice or factors outside the control of the climbers. And sometimes everything is perfect and an underprepared climber can achieve something special. At the end of the day, you need to show up and do the climb before you know the outcome. That same truth applies to venture capital and investing, and our guest today, Tony van Marken of First Ascent Ventures , marries both those pursuits as a successful operator, investor, and mountaineer. We touched on how Tony supports founders going through the emotional startup journey, and how to help CEOs during a company-wide layoff. Tony shares his experience as a public market CEO, and how the recent sell-off in Canadian IPOs is impacting his Founders. About Tony van Marken: Tony van Marken is the co-founder and Managing Partner of First Ascent Ventures. Previously he was the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vox Telecom Limited, a leading independent telecommunications service provider in South Africa. Tony is a former General Partner with XDL Intervest Corporation, a Canadian venture capital fund, where he led investments in the software and telecommunications industry. Prior to XDL, he was President and CEO of Architel Systems Corporation.  Tony is an accomplished endurance athlete and a veteran of over 35 high-altitude mountaineering expeditions with over 65 summits. He summited Everest in 2005 to complete his quest to climb the world’s seven continental summits. Tony graduated with a B.Sc. (Computer Science) from the University of Cape Town and with a B.Comm. (Economics and Business Management) from the University of South Africa (UNISA) and has completed executive education courses at Kellogg University, Wits Business School (South Africa) and the Oxford Saïd Business School. A word from our sponsor: At Ripple, we manage all of our fund expenses and employee credit cards using Jeeves.  The team at Jeeves helped get me and my team setup with physical and virtual credit cards in days. I was able to allow my teammates to expense items in multiple currencies allowing them to pay for anything, anywhere at anytime. We weren’t asked for any personal guarantees or to pay any setup or monthly SaaS fees. Not only does Jeeves save us time, but they also give us cash back on our purchases including expenses like Google, Facebook, or AWS every month. New users can earn up to 3% cashback for their first 90 days. The best part is Jeeves puts up the cash, and you settle up once every 30 days in any currency you want, unlike some other corporate card companies that make you pre-pay every month. Jeeves also recently launched its Jeeves Growth and Working Capital initiative for startups and fast-growing companies to enable more financial freedom for companies. The best thing of all is that Jeeves is live in  24 countries including Canada, US and many other countries around the world. Jeeves truly offers the best all-in-one expense management corporate card program for all startups especially the ones at Ripple and we at Tank Talks could not be more excited to officially partner with them. Listeners of Tank Talks can get set up with a demo of Jeeves today and take advantage of our Tank Talks special with a‍ $250 statement credit after the first $2,500 in spend or a $500 statement credit after the first $5000 in spend. Lastly, all Jeeves cardholders receive access to their Lounge Pass program and access to over 1300 airports globally. Visit tryjeeves.com/tanktalks to learn more. In this episode we discuss: 02:45 Tony’s career journey to becoming an investor 06:01 Perspective on the current downturn and how it compares to ones in the past 09:12 Why today may be the best time to make investments 11:06 Common mistakes founders make in downturns 15:42 Why now is a good time for founders to raise prices 17:12 Helping founders manage the emotional rollercoaster 21:27 How founders can manage a RIF and layoffs 27:35 Advice to CEOs considering an IPO 36:51 Has power returned to VCs or do founders still have the edge 38:25 Expectations Tony has for new investments 40:52 What should founders be asking investors? 44:18 Should founders pursue remote or in-person for their companies 50:39 Tony’s mountaineering experiences Fast Favorites 🎙- Favorite Podcast: Beyond the Grid with Tom Clarkson 📰 - Favorite Newsletter/Blog: The Daily Maverick 📲 - Favorite Tech Gadget: Garmin In Reach Mini-2 📈 -  Favorite New Trend: Travel and experiences 📚 - Favorite Book: Never Split the Difference 🤔 - Favorite Life Lesson: Never ignore the opportunity to learn from failure… Follow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here! Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency