The Ledger
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Kumar: Coined the term pre-seed around 2013 as seed rounds grew
“I actually kind of coined the pre-seed term at one point in, I think in 2013, 2014 because I saw the seed market kind of evolving where it was becoming a two million to three million dollar round, and I was like, wait, these things are changing, and so there h…”
Kumar: Mid-2000s Sand Hill Road VCs avoided tech risk and operational backgrounds
“Most of the funds were trying to do investments that were three to four million dollars. They were not taking technology risk. A lot of the new people on Sand Hill at that time were not coming from a startup or an operating background.”
Kumar: Startup value creation has shifted primarily to private markets
“If you look at the new venture landscape, the value creation has really shifted to private markets. Companies add more value while they are still private than sometimes, and they do even after they've gone public.”
Kumar: K9 Ventures operates on a five-year fund cycle
“First my investment period is five years. So I only go out to market with a new fund every five years and not every two to three years.”
Kumar: K9 Ventures will not raise valuations to chase competitive deals
“I have absolutely zero fear of missing out, and so if there's a company that is got multiple term sheets or offers even at the pre-seed stage and stuff like, I'm not going to be Chasing that deal and trying to move up in valuation in order to win that deal.”
Kumar caps K9 Ventures at three to four investments annually
“So if I'm only making three or four new investments in a year, it's an incredibly tight filter to begin with.”
Kumar: K9 Ventures is operating on a 30-year horizon
“I think when I got into it with a thirty-year timeline.”
Kumar: Seed rounds grew from $500K in 2009 to $3M by 2020
“At that time, a seed round was 500,000 dollars. Today, a seed round is two to three million dollars, if not more.”
Kumar: K9 invests $400k-$500k initially and up to $4M per startup
“So my sweet spot is usually around 400 to 500,000 as an initial investment. But then I will go as high as about four million dollars into each company. So I do, I'll do 400 to 500,000 into the pre-seed. I might do 750 or a million into the seed, and then anoth…”