We’re on to lesson nine of the ten lessons learned since beginning our venture capital journey in late 2020.
Our last post just scratched the surface on the role that VCs play to work with their portfolio companies to energize growth.
We strongly believe that a VC’s most important customers are the entrepreneurs they’ve invested in.
We’ve constructed a machine that consistently sees about 75 new companies per month. We end up investing in about 10 per year (a ratio of ~1 investment for every 100 new companies we see).
Beyond seeing a healthy flow of deals each month, the real point of leverage for a VC firm is to work closely with our companies after investment to help them grow.
How does a VC help?
Help can take many different forms: directly from the capital injection; indirectly through the value-add that we make through introductions, partnerships, and finding customers; and helping to raise the company’s next round of funding.
Fred Wilson from USV said, “If there were no entrepreneurs, there would be no venture capital business. So the VCs who treat the entrepreneur like the customer and invest heavily in customer service will be rewarded with the loyalty of the most important component in the value chain.”
How does Automotive Ventures help our entrepreneurs?
Let’s hear from some of our companies.
Jim Roche from WarrCloud notes, “As WarrCloud’s first institutional investor, Automotive Ventures has uniquely accelerated the company’s growth, particularly by making introductions to customers and investors that have gone on to lead our subsequent rounds. Steve has also been a terrific board member, and I’m confident he will continue to serve me and the company as he’s done from the earliest stages, all the way through to our ultimate exit.”
Daniel First from Axion Ray says, “The Automotive Ventures team was an early backer of Axion and has supported the business by providing investor introductions and opening doors to potential partners and customers in Automotive.”
Nikhil Naikal from Kinetic commented, “Steve and Justin work fast, they ran an incredibly efficient diligence process, and we were thrilled to have them join our Series A alongside Lux and Construct. Since investing, Automotive Ventures has effectively been a BizDev extension of Kinetic, making many connections to high-impact partners and customers.”
Victor Darolfi from Robotire notes, “Steve is an incredible and supportive board member; I can count on him to be there for me day or night and appreciate his and the Automotive Venture’s unique understanding of the automotive landscape.”
Andrea Amico from Privacy4Cars observes, “We have received more than capital from Automotive Ventures. Steve and team are recognized thought leaders in our industry, and they have shown over and over commitment to our success. Whether it's advice, help with an introduction, or encouragement, we could have not asked for better VC partners along our journey at the intersection of two of the fastest evolving market trends: vehicle technology and data privacy and security.”
Wrapping Up
We previously noted that entrepreneurs should be very aware of the venture capital business model, and ensure that we’re aligned.
But, just like finding the right partner and team in your startup, if you’re able to find an investor who is a great fit, it has a force multiplier effect, accelerating your company’s growth and allowing you to ultimately achieve a bigger exit.
At Automotive Ventures, we’re looking for exceptionally talented founding teams who are attacking big problems and have a sense for how they can scale their businesses in a way that builds a defensible competitive advantage.
We love having conversations with entrepreneurs about how we can help them on their quest.
Join us on the journey,
Steve Greenfield
