Jeff Clavier
Founder and Managing Partner, Uncork Capital. On 1 show, 1 appearance. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
investorfounderengineerexecutive@jeff ↗LinkedIn ↗uncorkcapital.com ↗
In 2004, Clavier founded SoftTech VC—rebranded in 2017 to Uncork Capital—pioneering the institutional seed-stage micro-VC model in Silicon Valley. Over two decades, he has backed prominent startups from inception, including Fitbit, Mint, Eventbrite, SendGrid, Postmates, and Poshmark.
1shows
1appearances
12statements
3resolved
1supported
1contradicted
33%fully supported
60said about them ↓ Everything Jeff Clavier said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Clavier: Fitbit Would Have Died Without Brad Feld's Series A Investment
“Every single round of financing was either close to impossible, To raise, I had to beg Brad failed to invest in the Series A saving Fitbit, because without that investment from Brad, they would be dead, and even the Series B or the Series C were not easy, desp…”
Clavier in 2015: Ambient Wireless Power Will Recharge Electronics by 2018
“So those two guys out of MIT have invented a well using a technology which has been refined lab at MIT, where, you know, in three years from now, you'll have a device or earlier You will have a device on your nightstand or your desk in the office that will aut…”
Clavier: No VCs Were Willing to Fund Fitbit in 2010
“In 2000 10 there was basically no one to fund Fitbit, like no one would touch it despite the early progress and, you know, sort of early liftoff in terms of sales”
Clavier: One-Third of SoftTech Portfolio Companies Receive Preemptive Series A Offers
“The thing which is interesting is that about a third Of our companies actually don't go and raise a round. The round just comes to them in the form of a preemption.”
Clavier: Hardware Startups Were a "No-Go Zone" for VCs in 2008
“It was a no-no or no-go or no investment zone for the other VCs.”
SoftTech VC Doubled Down on Fitbit's $9M Series A Across Two Funds
“After a couple of months of due diligence and reference checks and spending time with the team, they led a nine million dollar Series A that I we participated into, and we actually bought more shares of Fitbit from our other fund, Fund Three, which we had rais…”
Clavier: Micro VC Market Grew to 250 Funds and $4B by 2015
“By 2010, you were looking at a market of 20, 25 in sort of institutional micro VC funds. In five years, 10 X that amount has been raised. So we're now looking at 250 macro VC funds having raised a total of four billion dollars.”
Clavier: Startups Need 18 Months of Seed Runway to Reach Series A
“We've always sort of looked at a, an average of an 18 months runway as what it takes for a company to, you know, take the seed round, hire a few engineers, get the product to market, start building traction, do a few, you know, revisions of the product, and th…”
Clavier: Preemptive Term Sheets Now Avoid Bidding Wars, Not Bargain Valuations
“And it used to be that preemptions were a way to try and get a sweet deal, so not pay market price, whereas now it's to try and get out of bidding wars that end up happening if ever you have an interesting company that is raising through a process where you co…”
Clavier: Fitbit Reached a $10B Valuation on Just $40M-$50M in Equity
“In the case of Fitbit, they've gotten to where they are just using, you know, roughly 50, you know, 40, fifty million dollars in in actual sort of equity capital.”
SoftTech VC Reviews 3,000 Startup Pitches Annually to Make 15 Investments
“We get to see about 3000 or more companies per year, and we only invest in 15.”
Clavier: Hardware Startups Need $3M-$4M Seed Rounds Due to Longer Timelines
“Most of our companies will, you know, go out and raise a two million dollar seed round on average Unless, you know, they're a hardware company, in which case, they might go and raise a three to four million dollar listed round, because hardware is so hard and …”
The other half of the tape: Jeff Clavier's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 54 times in 17 episodes across the shows. 6 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 21Michael Kim 8Brad Feld 7Andy McLoughlin 5Ed Sim 4Charles Hudson 3Samir Kaji 2Paul Martino 2
Statements about Jeff Clavier, by other people (6)
Kim predicts SoftTech VC will build a multi-generational platform like Greylock
“And if you look at the absolute top tier VC funds, they've done a phenomenal job of generational shift, and, you know, the older generation handing off to the younger generation, certainly firms like Greylock, have transformed themselves, and I think that is t…”
Early Micro-VC Returns Gave LPs Confidence to Back Solo GPs
“I actually think that there's a lower threshold because people like Jeff, Steve Anderson, Chris Saka, and others showed that you could take a small amount of capital. And actually turn it into meaningful returns. I think the fact that they proved that those ea…”
Jeff Clavier bought SoftTech VC's original logo on 99designs for $100
“Jeff had bought on 99 designs for like a hundred dollars or something back in probably 2005 or something.”
Kaji: Maples, Dearing, Anderson, and Clavier pioneered the micro VC trend
“Folks like Mike Maples and Michael Daring Steve Anderson, Jeff Clavier they started the micro VC trend and they started raising these small funds when it wasn't even a thought.”
Micro-VC funds grew from nearly zero in 2010 to 400 by 2015
“When I started this in 2010, I think one of the only micro VCs was Jeff Clavier, soft tech. ... Since that time, I think there's 350 or 400 now, quote unquote, micro VCs.”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
20VC 54
2023 1 mention in 1 episode
2020 1 mention in 1 episode
2018 7 mentions in 3 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: Andy McLoughlin on The Benefits of Backing Unsexy Businesses with Non-Obvious Founders, How To Distinguish Between A Good Bridge Round and A Bridge To Nowhere & Whether VCs Really Do Add Value?
- 20VC: Investing Lessons From Observing Doug Leone and Bill Gurley, Why It Is Easier To Be Contrarian As A VC Than As An Angel & What It Takes To Run Tinder's Product and Revenue Alongside A Seed Fund with Jeff Morris Jr, Founder @ Chapter One
- 20VC: Why The Days of Spray and Pray at Seed Are Over, How To Compete In A World of Sequoia Seed Funds & Why Price Doesn't Matter with Dan Scheinman, Angel Investor @ Zoom & Arista Networks
- every mention in 2018, scene by scene →
2017 3 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode
- 20VC: Eventbrite Founder, Julia Hartz on The Lessons Learned Scaling Eventbrite to Unicorn Valuation & $3Bn in Gross Ticket Sales
- 20VC: Investing; A Game Of Access Or Picking, Why Technical DD At Seed Is Irrelevant & Why A Contrarian Mindset Does Not Always Lead To Optimal Returns with Leo Polovets, Co-Founder & General Partner @ Susa Ventures
- 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
- every mention in 2017, scene by scene →
2016 28 mentions in 5 episodes 6 per episode
- 20VC: What It Takes To Raise A VC Fund & Investing in First Time Fund Managers with Michael Kim @ Cendana Capital
- 20VC: Raising A Solo GP Fund & Why They Are So Prominent Today with Charles Hudson, Managing Partner @ Precursor Ventures
- 20VC: Investing In Sectors That Were Cool 2 Years Ago, What Accel's Facebook Fund Taught a Generation of LPs & Why LPs Need A New Discovery Process with Paul Martino, Founding Partner @ Bullpen Capital
- 20VC: Why Valuation Is A Stupid Concept, VC Is Ripe For Disruption & Not All LPs Are Made Equal with Michael Skok, Founding Partner @ Underscore VC
- 20VC: Rob Go @ NextView on WTF Is Seed Investing Today and Why Raising Too Much Money Can Harm Your Startup
- every mention in 2016, scene by scene →
2015 14 mentions in 4 episodes 4 per episode
- 20 VC 065: FOUNDRY GROUP WEEK 1: Brad Feld: Founders Should Be Obsessed, Passion Belongs In The Bedroom
- 20 VC 092: The Repeatable Playbook of SaaS with Ed Sim, Founding Partner @ BoldStart Ventures
- 20 VC 093: Where Is The Micro VC Market Going with Samir Kaji @ First Republic Bank
- 20 VC 070: Do Investors in California Outperform The Rest of The World with Eric ver Ploeg @ Recursive Capital
- every mention in 2015, scene by scene →
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Jeff's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20VCLEDGER | Founder and Managing Partner, Uncork Capital | 1 | 12 | 33% 1/3 | full record on 20VC → |