Kyle Lui, principal at DCM Ventures, explains why VCs must offer specialized industry knowledge to win allocations in top founders.
Disclosure
DCM invested in Eaze following a multi-decade shift in cannabis regulation
“We as a DCM, as a fund, really saw that, ah, regulations were shifting in a way that we hadn't seen in the last couple of decades, and so this led to a real market opportunity for innovators, and I think Ease is certainly one of them.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
AnyPerk is well positioned to own the employee perks market
“And I think that they've done a really good job of executing, of delighting their customers, and I think they're well positioned to really own this market.”
Disclosure
DCM sometimes meets founders a dozen times before investing
“Sometimes we meet entrepreneurs you know, maybe a dozen times, you know, to talk about everything from strategy, go to market, product, vision, hiring, before we make an investment.”
Insight
Venture capitalists must actively assume regulatory risk in emerging markets
“VCs generally have to take, ah, a bit of regulation risk, right? You either make a call that regulation is going in, in the direction that's favorable towards, towards you know, the potential investments you're looking at, or they're not.”
Disclosure
Lui focused on mobile on-demand, drones, AI, and enterprise in 2015
“Me, personally, I've been looking, ah, a ton into Mobile-enabled services, so sort of the on-demand space. I've also been actively looking at drones and the drone space and AI, which is quickly emerging and as you, and also obviously enterprise software, given…”
Disclosure
Salesforce was Choice Pass's top acquisition target from day one
“Everybody was really excited about like Salesforce as a company, and when we started, we sort of looked at, you know, companies that we admire, companies that we'd like to partner with, potentially get investments from, or potentially be acquired by, and Sales…”