Chris Fralic, Board Partner at First Round Capital, reflects on how his past domain experience at eBay caused him to dismiss Etsy's potential.
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“We had the opportunity to look at Etsy, and I was almost dismissive, or I just thought of it as this little niche of handmade goods or something, and I think I was jaded. I mean, I thought I knew so much from eBay that it kind of turned me off to the whole category”
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More from Chris Fralic
Insight
Fralic: Increasing Early-Stage VC Ownership Post-Initial Round Is Way Harder
“I think it's way harder for everything you mentioned, and there's so much more capital that's around so many more firms. Again, like, I think Roblox was unique in being under the radar company for so long, whereas anything that's got traction and visibility wi…”
Chris FralicApr 29, 2021▶ 11:2920VC: The Roblox Memo: First Round's Chris Fralic on The 17 Year Journey to Build a $41BN Market Cap Company, Why It Is Way Harder To Increase Ownership Across Rounds Today & What Happens Post SPACMania
PredictionNot checkable as stated
Fralic in 2021: The SPAC boom will end badly
“I think it'll go too far. You know, the SPAC Invasion of the SPACs. I think some of that will end badly. It's too much too quick, I believe, but in general, more public companies, more capital, more funds is good for us, and more importantly, for our companies…”
Chris FralicApr 29, 2021▶ 20:4120VC: The Roblox Memo: First Round's Chris Fralic on The 17 Year Journey to Build a $41BN Market Cap Company, Why It Is Way Harder To Increase Ownership Across Rounds Today & What Happens Post SPACMania
Disclosure
First Round passed on Roblox in 2008 at a $10M valuation
“We decided not to invest in January of 2008. A lot of it was based on the price. Your listeners might laugh, but a ten million dollar valuation seemed outrageous, was way out of our normal range back then, and the game really looked raw.”
Chris FralicApr 29, 2021▶ 4:1620VC: The Roblox Memo: First Round's Chris Fralic on The 17 Year Journey to Build a $41BN Market Cap Company, Why It Is Way Harder To Increase Ownership Across Rounds Today & What Happens Post SPACMania
Disclosure
First Round passed on Twitter over a $20M valuation limit
“Yeah, I think we might have been fortunate back in those days to have made a really poor investment decision, missed one of our biggest of all time, with Twitter. When we were all early users, we had an opportunity to invest at first round, and didn't, primari…”
Chris FralicApr 29, 2021▶ 7:1820VC: The Roblox Memo: First Round's Chris Fralic on The 17 Year Journey to Build a $41BN Market Cap Company, Why It Is Way Harder To Increase Ownership Across Rounds Today & What Happens Post SPACMania
Disclosure
First Round retained over 5% ownership in Roblox at direct listing
“Our initial investment was 500 K Roblox or so, and that was probably on the high end of an average investment. And we were starting to think about our best companies and opportunities. Where could we put more capital to work? How could we deploy more into the …”
Chris FralicApr 29, 2021▶ 10:1120VC: The Roblox Memo: First Round's Chris Fralic on The 17 Year Journey to Build a $41BN Market Cap Company, Why It Is Way Harder To Increase Ownership Across Rounds Today & What Happens Post SPACMania
Disclosure
Fralic: I did not share Baszucki's conviction on Roblox's eventual scale
“And to be honest, I didn't share that conviction all the time. I didn't think it could be as big as it is now, but I think he always did.”
Chris FralicApr 29, 2021▶ 13:1420VC: The Roblox Memo: First Round's Chris Fralic on The 17 Year Journey to Build a $41BN Market Cap Company, Why It Is Way Harder To Increase Ownership Across Rounds Today & What Happens Post SPACMania
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