It is no longer enough to invest in portfolio companies that fit a firm’s thesis, steer them to an accelerator program, and then into the abyss of “good luck charlie land” to validate and grow their business. We have adopted a hands on approach where we cultivate a sophisticated network of advisors, mentors, and connectors and influencers in the business and consumer space that ensure our portfolio companies meet goals set for them for product development, validation, and scale.
We believe that recognizing value early and investing in and developing underrepresented founders and ideas will give us a unique advantage over other early stage funds and investors. We will invest early, at low cost, and in strategic phases: incubation, product, validation, scale. By negotiating founder-friendly, investor-friendly terms and phasing our investments we can mitigate risk as deals progress at varying paces. Our phased approach will also allow us to influence pivots at crucial stages before too much road is behind our portfolio companies.
See our investment criteria for more details of the direction we are headed.