Guernsey Venture Challenge winners

Yesterday evening eight businesses pitched at the Guernsey Venture Challenge for £70,000 of prize money, kindly donated by Blenheim Chalcot.

I was fortunate to be on the panel alongside Charles Mindenhall of Blenheim Chalcot, Fiona Bateson and Paul Wilkes of Osney Capital.

Much more importantly, the winners were...

1st= Midwife Vic's c-sectionuk with £30,0000
1st= Joanna Woodnutt's Petlearnia with £30,000
3rd Ben Wratten & Dave Wratten's Stage Portal with £10,000

Congratulations to everyone who took part, Andre Duquemin, Louis Jooste, Henry Freeman, Matthias Plunser, James Le Gallez and everyone at Digital Greenhouse Guernsey who helped organise the event.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Late update - 21 September 23

#TodayI

Asked how people manage backlogs after a trip.
Cleared most of my backlog.
Had a meeting to figure out some things for our new house.
Saw my Business Brief article on Disrupting The Funds Industry was in The Guernsey Press (picture below).
Had my Important Not Urgent Day.

#NowI

Am on the panel for the Guernsey Venture Challenge at the Digital Greenhouse Guernsey.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Post trip backlogs

I've just spent seven days in the UK. I always have a huge backlog when I get home.

Who else has this after a trip? How do you manage it?

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 20 September 23

#TodayI

Shared why target ownership percentages make no sense.
Was pitched by Lindsey Depledge and Simon Tucker of Beanbag Health including a mid-pitch fire alarm and a tennis ball improv session.
Attended ZINC's Portfolio Pitch Event and saw a great set of founders pitch. Thank you Ella Goldner (Levy), 😃 David Fogel and Francesca Marsden for inviting me.
Noticed I was still wearing my "Marc Cohen, Investor" sticker on the tube. Embarrassing.
Had coffee with Kevin MONSERRAT of TokenSphere.

#NowI

'm heading to the airport to fly home after nearly a week away. It will be good to see my family again.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Target ownership makes no sense

I never target percentage ownership. It makes no sense.

Yes, you have to own a certain percentage of a company to return a fund given a certain fund size and target valuation.

But...

If you then doubled your fund size you wouldn't invest twice as much in each company, you'd just have twice the number of investments that would each have the same likelihood of reaching that target valuation.

Or with the same fund size, if you had twice the number of investments with half the ownership you'd on average have twice as many investments that hit that target valuation (and less variance in your outcomes).

The only time target ownership makes sense is if you want a board seat and to be able to maintain that board seat even if you get diluted.

You always have a distribution of outcomes spread across multiple investments. You need that distribution of outcomes to be as good as possible. Target ownership is irrelevant.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 19 September 23

#TodayI

Shared why I believe Jonny Boufarhat of Hopin's secondaries were best for everyone.
Caught up with Matt Jonns of Founder and Lightning.
Was pitched in person by Aled Maclean-Jones of Ashore.
Had coffee with Samuel Cohen of Thom Sweeney and unbundled vc's founder support scheme.
Was pitched in person by Dr Wareed Alenaini of Twinn Health who provided cookies! (pic below)
Met with Sacha Vauclin of Carta to find out about all their products.

#NowI

Am heading to see friends.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Jonny Bourfarhat of Hopin’s secondary was fine

Hopin failed. Lots of people are criticising the founder, Johnny Boufarhat, for taking money from a secondary.

People say it was obvious the business wouldn't make it so it was disgusting that he took the money.

First, what he sold looks like about 5%, maybe 10%, of what he owned at the time.

Secondly, the company raised money months after the secondary at its highest valuation. One of the leads had $22bn under management in 2022 and has been around since 2008. It's easy to say it's obvious something wouldn't make it in hindsight.

Thirdly, and most importantly, if you had a net worth of somewhere in the low billions all tied up in founder equity and your investors wanted you to keep going for it, wouldn't you want to take 5-10% out? You might even have had the chance of an exit for all the money and your investors wanted you to keep shooting for the stars.

It's easy to criticise. It's easy to say something is obvious in hindsight. It's rarely obvious at the time. And if you want your founders to go for it when they are already paper billionaires, it's actually pretty sensible for them to take 5-10% out and reasonable for the investors to allow or even encourage it.

End rant.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 18 September 23

#TodayI

Shared I was quoted in the FT courtesy of Jo Stoddart and Locate Guernsey.
Spoke with Amanda Nolen of NilesNolen.
Had a founder postponement.
Had lunch with Andy Shannon.
Saw that two of my investments, YASO and Duel Tech, are collaborating to host the Beauty Growth Summit. This is an invite-only event so see the link in the comments for details.
Cleared some of my backlog (this seems to be a common item).

#LaterI

Am doing my first ever open mic spot.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Living in Guernsey

I'm fortunate to live in Guernsey. When the sun is it looks like this. It's possibly the safest place to live in Europe. It's been super helpful in building my business and my wife's. And it's easy to get on the plane to the UK and meet founders, investors and, this weekend, old friends.

So I am very happy to be quoted in this FT article for Locate Guernsey written by Jo Stoddart and to be taking part in their Relocate to Guernsey Show on 3rd October where I will be on the panel for the fireside chat.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 15 September 23

#TodayI

Shared that I love hearing your stories.
Had coffee with Andrew Williamson of Cambridge Innovation Capital.
Had coffee with Nicky Dibben of Invention Marketing.
Had coffee with Kornel Grunwald.
Worked on a project.

#NowI

Am meeting some friends for dinner.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Curiosity inspired the cat

I find the world fascinating and I love hearing people's stories.

Founders, that means I really like hearing how you found this problem and decided you had to solve it.

I enjoy it and I learn something every time.

Thank you.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 14 September 23

#TodayI

Shared I was on Nzube Ufodike's Crown Caste podcast.
Got the 7am flight to Gatwick.
Got the train to Cambridge.
Had lunch with the wonderful Sky and Chantal Epp FRSA of ClicknClear (pic below).
Had a lime and soda with Paul de Gruchy Gaudin.
Had coffee with Philip Winter of Creator Fund.
Took my dinner suit to be dry cleaned.
Headed back to my hotel.

#NowIHaveTo

Read docs and send funds for an investment.
Pay for the most recent month of our house build.
Pay my son's school fees.
Catch up on all today's emails.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Podcast with Nzube Ufodike

I am very fortunate to be on Nzube Ufodike's Crown Caste podcast.

We talk about:

Building in Public in VC.
What I look for in founders and startups.
Making the investment process founder friendly.
How VCs can engage better with founders.

It's just 12 minutes. Let me know what you think!

Spotify

Everything else

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 13 September 23

#TodayI

Walked to work with my phone off.
Shared why if you have a buyer for your business you need to DD them.
Blocked out the morning for admin and organisation.
Was pitched by a founder who wishes to remain anonymous.
Was pitched by Casey Lawlor of UnVale.

#NowI

Am catching up with Euan Cameron of Willo®.
Am going to the launch event for Aston Currency Management.
Have a late call with a founder.
Need to finish packing for my trip tomorrow.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Due diligence your buyers

Founders, if you have an offer to purchase your business, make sure you DD the buyer.

Sales processes take a lot of time and energy. You only want to get into that with someone you can trust.

There are buyers who will make it take so long you nearly run out of money.

There are buyers who will always find a reason to offer you less at the end of the process.

Often, you will have to stay with the business a couple of years to get the full payout, particularly in an earn out. There are buyers who will make your life so difficult you won't want to stay.

Ask to speak to the founders of the last three companies they bought. Make sure you speak to someone who has been through that two year period.

There are good and bad actors out there. You need to make sure you are dealing with a good one.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 12 September 23

#TodayI

Shared that the best investors in the world know it's an honour to be on a founder's cap table.
Spoke with Anna Sweetman of Active Partners.
Caught up with Nick Gregg.
Shared that Focal's deadline approaches.
Grabbed a quick lunch with Simon Livesey.
Blocked out the rest of my day for backlog.

#ThisEveningI

have an unknown school event.
Am having dinner with my wife.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Focal reminder

It's not too late to apply to Focal and get yourself in front of over 175 VCs, including me, plus the thousands of VCs and angels who will watch the finalists pitch at demo day.

https://www.gofocal.vc/

Application deadline is 12th September. Anything up to Series A is welcome.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

The best startup investors in the world

The best startup investors know it's an honour for them to be on a founder's cap table - not the other way around.

Via Ethan Lu.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Evening update - 11 September 23

#TodayI

Walked with my phone off to Pilates with Maria Jose Freeman (Fernandez) of Pilates Core Club.
Shared my monthly newsletter was out - Why Market Size Matters.
Had coffee with Tom Carey of Carey Olsen.
Attended Lunch break meditation Guille-Allès Library.
Worked on my trip to the UK later in the week.
Walked home.
Had a very quick call with Lindsey Depledge and Simon Tucker of Beanbag Health then agreed to do it in person before ZINC's Portfolio Pitch Event on the 20th.

#LaterI

Am taking my son to football training.
Have to pack for my trip.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic

Why Market Size Matters (And How To Think About It)

The latest edition of my newsletter - Why Market Size Matters (And How To Think About It) - is out now.

Let me know what you think.

#founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic