Disclosure certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Chicago Ventures' $40M first fund made 39 investments averaging $500K

Ezra Galston · 20 VC 063: What It Takes To Standout In A Crowded Market with Ezra Galston @ Chicago Ventures · Aug 17, 2015 · at 7:12

Ezra Galston is a partner at Chicago Ventures. He outlines the fund size, total investments, and check size parameters for the firm's inaugural fund.

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“The first fund was forty million dollars. We made 39 investments out of that fund. Average ticket size, like first check-in, around 500,000 dollars, maybe slightly under that.”

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More from Ezra Galston

Prediction Held up
Galston predicts in 2015 that Bitcoin will succeed long-term
“I love Bitcoin. I've spent a lot of time looking into it. You know, I'll take Ben Horowitz's side of the Felix Salmon bet. I think it'll fly long term.”
Ezra Galston Aug 17, 2015 ▶ 21:56 20 VC 063: What It Takes To Standout In A Crowded Market with Ezra Galston @ Chicago Ventures
Assertion Contradicted
Galston: One-third of the Fortune 500 is headquartered in the Midwest
“A third of the entire Fortune 500 is right here in the Midwest.”
Ezra Galston Aug 17, 2015 ▶ 7:29 20 VC 063: What It Takes To Standout In A Crowded Market with Ezra Galston @ Chicago Ventures
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Galston: Chicago is Uber and Instacart's second or third largest market
“If you ask Uber or Instacart, what, you know, their second or third most important market is, it's almost inevitably Chicago.”
Ezra Galston Aug 17, 2015 ▶ 8:15 20 VC 063: What It Takes To Standout In A Crowded Market with Ezra Galston @ Chicago Ventures
Disclosure
Chicago Ventures avoids leading SF and LA rounds without local proximity
“For kind of our investments in SF for LA, we're traditionally not the lead investor because we do like to lead that, leave that to someone who is a little bit closer, can be a little bit more hands-on.”
Ezra Galston Aug 17, 2015 ▶ 9:09 20 VC 063: What It Takes To Standout In A Crowded Market with Ezra Galston @ Chicago Ventures
Insight
Galston: B2B marketplaces offer massive transaction frequency from enterprise client hosting
“If you think about, like, Deloitte or BCG or Google, like, they're throwing, you know, they're hosting clients every single night, 365 days of the year, right? So there's actually a huge amount of frequency potential even in B to B marketplaces”
Ezra Galston Aug 17, 2015 ▶ 11:13 20 VC 063: What It Takes To Standout In A Crowded Market with Ezra Galston @ Chicago Ventures
Insight
Galston: Marketplace supply becomes sticky when workers double their traditional earnings
“And if they're making double, then that's great news, and that starts to really excite me, because then I just know they're going to be sticky.”
Ezra Galston Aug 17, 2015 ▶ 12:03 20 VC 063: What It Takes To Standout In A Crowded Market with Ezra Galston @ Chicago Ventures
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