Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 133: Paul Clark, Managing Director of VentureSouth

Today we welcome Paul Clark, Managing Director at VentureSouth, to the podcast.  Prior to co-founding VentureSouth, Paul was Senior Vice President of M&A at a multi-billion-dollar bank in South Carolina. Paul has extensive private equity investment and fund experience in New York and London.  In 2013 Paul, along with Matt Dunbar and Charlie Banks formulated the Venture South Plan. We’ve had Paul on the podcast before with portfolio company, Threatswitch, but this time we wanted to purely focus on the VentureSouth story and what they are doing.  As such, we turned to how Paul ended up in Greenville, South Carolina as the Managing Director of VentureSouth – ultimately this meant the transition from investing in large companies to startup stage companies.  From there, we dive into the early days of just being in a single city and how they’ve expanded from there to multiple cities across the Carolinas to where they are today. We also discuss how the VentureSouth model is different from other cities and what the process is like for founders. Listening to their process should be very helpful for both founders interesting in pitching to VentureSouth and investors wanting to know more about their process.  This opens us up to dive into the opportunities and challenges dealing with a southeast investor verses a west coast investor. It’s a great podcast detailing how has become considered to be a top 10 early-stage venture firm developing and managing angel investment groups and funds throughout the Southeast. Their growth, which is highlighted by their 400 investors across three states and multiples funds and groups, has allowed them to deploy more than $80 million into 80+ companies. It’s a great podcast and it is good to hear how VentureSouth deploys capital, has fun and does good. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.