Floyd: VCs in initial pitches search for one reason to invest
Joe Floyd · 20 VC 009: Red Flags, Saas and becoming a VC with Joe Floyd · Feb 2, 2015 · at 9:18
Joe Floyd, Principal at Emergence Capital, explains the mindset VCs bring to initial founder pitches versus formal due diligence.
0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 14.6s
720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“In first meetings, As a venture capitalist, you're trying to dream the dream. Like you, the red flags are everywhere. You could, you can find hundreds of reasons not to make an investment. You have what you're looking for. Yeah. What you're looking for is that one reason to make the investment.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Joe Floyd
Floyd: Multiple co-founders increase the likelihood of premature, smaller startup exits
“Now, the flip side is, and this is something that a lot of people don't think about, from an equity perspective, especially from a returns perspective, having more founders makes the outcome less attractive. It also forces people to take earlier exits, because…”
Floyd in 2015: BMW and Audi will catch up to Tesla
“I think what you're going to wind up having is companies like BMW and Audi are going to catch up. Tesla has kind of that one to two Your lead, and, I mean, you see it with companies, with a car like the i-eight coming out. I mean, other car companies are going…”
Floyd: Venture capital lacks concrete skills and is just connecting people
“The venture job doesn't really have a lot of concrete skills. It is a job, it's a people job. You're effectively going out, meeting people, and connecting people. Those are the two job functions you have.”
Floyd: 2014 VC deployment approached 2000 dot-com bubble levels
“If you just look at valuations, and you look at round sizes, and you look at the sheer dollar amount of money raised by venture capitalists and deployed by venture capitalists in 2014, it's approaching the levels we saw in 2000.”