The reason British VC’s have a bad reputation

Yesterday I received a brutal review on Landscape describing me as "the reason why British VCs get a bad reputation".

This is what happened. I need your honest feedback.

We agreed to back a founder at a £1.8m valuation. The valuation was low but that was part of the reason we committed.
We weren't leading so the founder thought we weren't valuation sensitive.
When we received the legals, the round size went from £600k to £1m and the valuation from £1.8m to £3m.
We hadn't heard anything on valuation change before then.
We passed because of the significant valuation increase.
When I told them, the founder was visibly upset and clearly continues to be.

What could I have done differently? What should I do differently in future?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 12 Oct 22

Today I…

Was pitched by David John Kaye of Abaton.
Shared why I broke my rules to invest in Spacemade.
Had coffee with Richard Bellis of EPIC Investment Partners and discussed the venture capital landscape.
Had lunch with Tatseng Chiam of RideTandem at Good Rebel. Both are recommended (Good Rebel and lunch with Tatseng).
Was pitched by Robin Yan of Fana.
Was pitched by Shwetank Tamer of Cooee®.
Received an email from a founder I have committed to telling me they have a lead investor.
Had a call postponed with an angel investor.

Yesterday I…

Set up an unbundled vc YouTube channel to host public pitches.
Forgot to mention this.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Breaking my rules for Spacemade

I am a digital tech investor. Why did I break my rules and invest in Spacemade?

So far, breaking the rules has gone well. Here is the story.

Jonny is my brother's wife's sister's husband. I first met him before he was married and teased him about making an honest woman of his now wife.

When I saw an opportunity in the commercial property space, I reached out to him for advice.

He told me he was raising for Spacemade, I met him and Dan for a chat and was very quickly convinced.

Positives:

Thesis - I have strong views about the future of work that are consistent with what Spacemade is building. They were pushing on an open door.

Founder skills:
Sales - Jonny in particular struck me as a good salesperson. You need one founder with this skill. You have to be able to sell to investors, to employees and to sell the product.
Decision making - there are points in both their histories where they have demonstrated exceptional decision-making. If I ask for your history, I hope to hear evidence of this.
Founder market fit - they both came out of the commercial property space and knew the market back to front.
Appearance - neither founder had more hair than me

Investor base - at the time I committed, every other investor was in real estate. This reassured me there was nothing I had missed in a space I was not expert in.

Negatives:

Investor base - I prefer a VC-led round.
Commercial property - I reached out to a friend who is very successful in commercial property. He didn't understand why landlords wouldn't do this themselves and didn't believe there would be demand.
Digital tech - Jonny and Dan were very clear that the business wasn't digital tech.
Size of the opportunity - typically I want to invest in something that has the potential to be 100x. That wasn't clear here.

Sometimes the positives are so strong they outweigh the negatives. Spacemade has been an excellent investment so far and I felt strongly enough about it that I invested again and significantly more than my first ticket.

Here's hoping the journey continues to be a successful one.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 11 Oct 22

Today I…

Posted about my South Park anti-portfolio.
Attended a site meeting for our house build by Infinity Construction and DLM Architects.
Had a call with Tom Gotsman about our backgrounds and what he is building at SoLo Protocol. We plan to go again and chat about AI.
Was pitched by Sam Beaney of Lumen Family.
Shared Jess Hodgson of Bounty Sports' video pitch.
Spoke to Henry O'Brien of Mural about our respective investment strategies.

Now I…

Have to get back to one more founder to meet my two business-day internal SLA.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Bounty Sports

Delighted to share, with permission, Jess Hodgson of Bounty Sports' pitch.

Bounty Sports has built the world's first daily fantasy sports platform designed for casual sports fans.

Please let me know if you would like an intro.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

My anti-portfolio - South Park

Many years ago my wife and I went to see The Book of Mormon (recommended). The show is written by Matt Stone, Robert Lopez, and Trey Parker, two of whom wrote South Park.

At the end of the show, the cast came on stage and announced they were raising money for charity. If anyone would donate one thousand pounds, they could have an autographed copy of the South Park episode Trapped In The Closet which satirised Scientology and Tom Cruise in particular.

The previous day I had played poker, won more than a thousand pounds and had the cash in my pocket. My wife urged me to donate/buy the script. I didn't.

I still have non-buyers regret.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 10 Oct 22

Today I…

Posted about having invested in Jonny and Dan and the team at Spacemade.
Was pitched by Evan Mcgloughlin of Weeve.
Had a quick call with Jonny Plein of Kuai Commerce.
Spoke with Jon Horsfield and Tristan Dodson of Diode.
Chatted with David Walsh of ClicknClear.
Shared Sam Beaney of Lumen Family's #publicpitch.
Was pitched by Harry Hubble of Pally.

Now I…

Am heading home to make dinner for the kids.

#founders #startups #venturecapital. #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Lumen Family

Delighted to share, with permission, Sam Beaney of Lumen Family's pitch.

Lumen Family is building the operating system for the physical world starting with solving the problem that desk work is unhealthy,

Please let me know if you would like an intro.

Powered by Willo.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Investment (again) in Spacemade

Delighted to announce unbundled vc invested again in Jonny Rosenblatt and Dan Silverman and the whole team at Spacemade.

Spacemade partners with landlords to create bespoke, own-brand, fully serviced, flexible workspaces.

Jonny and Dan have hit it out of the park since I first invested and I couldn't be happier to be part of their journey again.

This is one of unbundled vc's rare ventures outside of digital tech. I will share why later in the week.

https://placetech.net/strategy/flex-operators-shuffle-pack-as-market-matures/

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 7 Oct 22

Today I…

Went public with my commitment to invest in Morgane and Jan at Guud.
Had another call with founder coach Philip Fortuna. Thank you Philip and looking forward to seeing how else we can work together.
Shared Evan Mcgloughlin of Weeve's pitch video.
Had a walk and talk with Michael Eisenberg who is an early-stage investor and compared our investment styles.
Had lunch with Aditya Nagarsheth and a founder who is raising.
Met Ayo Disu and Kunle Campbell to chat about what they are building at OCTILLION.
Had a quick call with Nick Gregg.

Now I…

Am going to meet some friends for beer and curry.

Have a great weekend everyone.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Weeve

Delighted to share, with permission, Evan Mcgloughlin of Weeve's pitch.

Weeve uses immersive learning to help you pick up languages without trying.

Please let me know if you would like an intro.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Investment commitment - Guud

Super happy to announce I have committed to invest in Morgane Leten and Jan Deruyck and the whole team at Guud.

Morgane was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in 2016. In 2020 she and her husband Jan founded Guud to elevate women's menstrual health.

Guud has an important mission, fantastic growth and unit economics, and a team that can solve any problem thrown at them. I am very happy I will soon be an investor.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 6 Oct 22

Today I…

Spent the day at the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) annual summit.
Attended an excellent panel moderated by Thorold Youngman-Sullivan of 1818 Venture Capital.
Bumped into and has good chats with Ioto Iotov, Aditya Nagarsheth, Martin Punt, Marc Buchner, Rupert Pleasant, Henry Freeman, Shane Hughes, Camille Bourke and many more.

Now I…

Am having post event drinks.

Random Thought…

The event feels very old school. All the men apart from me are wearing blazers or suits and ties. Every business they invest in has #founders who look and sound very different. There is a huge cultural disconnect.

#startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Decent human beings

Yesterday evening I had dinner with two #founders I have committed to invest in. As well as being great founders with a great business, they are decent human beings.

Founders and investors, make sure your investors and who you are investing in are decent people whose company you enjoy. You will be spending a long time with them on the journey.

I will talk about the business and why I am investing tomorrow.

#startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 5 Oct 22

Today I…

Had coffee with a founder who wishes to remain anonymous.
Had coffee with Aarish Shah of Projected.
Shared Shwetank Tamer of Cooee®'s public pitch.
Had coffee with an angel investor.
Had a postponed coffee because of rail strikes.
Needed the coffee because I arrived at my hotel after midnight last night.

Now I…

Am going for dinner with two #founders I have committed to invest in. I hope to be able to share shortly.

#startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Public pitch - Cooee

Delighted to share, with permission, Shwetank Tamer of Cooee®'s pitch.

Cooee® uses personalised notifications to drive customer engagement and boost revenues.

Please let me know if you would like an intro.

Powered by Willo.

#startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Managing pitches at scale with Willo

Most VCs have the same investment process - send a deck, meet an associate, maybe get a call with someone more senior.

Sometimes you never hear back.

My process is different.

It starts with the thesis that #founders are critical and to understand if #startups are good investments, you need to hear from founders in their own words.

That's why Willo® is the most important part of my investment process. It allows me to hear from founders in their own words at scale.

I am proud to be an investor in Willo®.

Read more here.

Evening update - 4 Oct 22

Today I…

Met Matt Bird of aboard. Matt is building the product e-commerce needs for recurring revenues when clients love your brand but don't want to spend the same amount every month. We had a wide-ranging chat about aboard, unbundled vc and the #venturecapital ecosystem.

Had a cancellation due to gastroenteritis.

Had coffee with Al Kenny who coaches two #founders I have invested in. We had a great conversation about how to support founders.

Have had time to work things other than just meetings including building a mailing list using Intuit Mailchimp and how else I can support founders.

Spent the day working from Neo in Manchester with this very cute dog, Ellie, in attendance.

#NowI

Am going for dinner with Aysha Madha before I get the late train to London to beat the rail strike.

#startups #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Old married couple

Random personal post (stop reading now):

A couple a weeks ago, my wife and I were arguing about something. My 12yo accused us of being an old married couple.

This triggered a mindset change for me.

We used to argue and I would get angry that we'd had this argument before and why couldn't she just she that I was right. I'd expend more mental energy on the angry than on the argument.

Now, sometimes, I can view the disagreement as one we might still be having in 30 years time and see us as the old married couple, very much in love, still bickering about the things we have always bickered about.

With that mindset I can see it affectionately.

#mindset #love #learning #marriage

Evening update - 3 Oct 22

Yesterday I…

Flew to Manchester with two of my boys to attend the XLH UK Patient Family Day. This is the genetic condition my two youngest have. It was the first time they met anyone else with their condition.

Today I…

Had a call with the fantastic Deepali Nangia of Speedinvest to discuss a specific investment and to understand how Speedinvest operates. Deepali invests in female and diverse founders.
Was pitched by Lisa O'Mahony and Petra Kolesarova of SPEEQO.
Had lunch with a friend I haven't seen since before the pandemic.

Now I…

Am writing this while Andrew Wood of Willo® puts his kids to bed. Then we are ordering a curry.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic