Screendoor has now checked out greater than 1,500 enterprise companies elevating funds, backing roughly 1.5% of them, usually as their first or second largest investor. After I’m scanning a pitch deck I’m principally trying to put it into one in every of two buckets – Conventional or Totally different.
“Conventional However Higher” means they’re principally operating a playbook which doesn’t seem too completely different from present companies – sourcing corporations in classes thought-about ‘enterprise scale,’ with a portfolio mannequin that has constant stage and possession targets, and ‘worth add’ that mirrors the language different companies may use. In fact Screendoor has an eye fixed in direction of new VCs with identities, backgrounds and networks that are ADDITIVE to the enterprise ecosystem to higher serve founders, so whereas the construction of the playbook is duplicative, the individuals operating the playbook aren’t – and that’s the important thing. In these instances we’re asking ourselves, can this particular person/partnership execute a ‘identified’ playbook higher than incumbents, as a result of it’s not very attention-grabbing to place individuals in enterprise who’re going to be Conventional However Common. Mediocre VCs get rich themselves however they gained’t earn cash for his or her LPs, and are, at finest, only a WITHDRAWALS ATM for common startups.
“Totally different & Glorious” equates to one thing that doesn’t precisely seem like different VCs. Could possibly be pinning their thesis on a class of know-how or kind of founder that isn’t but understood by the funding group. Or contrarian within the variety of corporations and/or {dollars} invested per firm in comparison with their friends. Possibly even a powerful POV on what worth they’ll add that isn’t usually obtainable to early stage founders. These companies aren’t carbon copies of the rest on the market. In actual fact, they most likely aren’t typically replicable. However they benefit from their distinctive founding companions, fairly often the kind of individuals who would reject – or not get employed by – ‘conventional VCs.’ Right here we’ve got to torture the fashions to actually perceive the quantitative sensitivities round anticipated efficiency. And the way rapidly the agency can course of new info and modify if parts of their speculation want tuning as soon as in market. However we’re enthusiastic about taking this danger when the individual and alternative warrants it.
Should you’re a VC elevating your first fund, and also you suppose you match both of those descriptions, please tell us. I might even ask you straight which one in every of these you suppose you’re and why.
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