The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: Portfolio Construction, Optimising SPVs, Opportunity Investing "Between Rounds", Being Distribution-Centric Over Product-Centric and Capital Concentration Within Funds With Sumeet Gajri, Chief Strategy Officer @ Carta

17 snips

Jan 17, 2020

Sumeet Gajri, Chief Strategy Officer at Carta and Managing Partner at Original Capital, shares his journey from Scotland to the heart of venture capital in NYC. He discusses his unique approach to portfolio construction, emphasizing optimal sizing and loss ratios. Sumeet explains his strategy for investing in promising startups during "between rounds". He highlights the importance of distribution channels for success and the need for trust-building between investors and founders. His insights on capital concentration and navigating relationships make for an engaging listen.

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ADVICE

Advice for Emerging Managers

Emerging fund managers need a unique value proposition to attract LPs.
Articulate your advantage in accessing deals and working with founders.

INSIGHT

Distribution vs. Product

Many founders from technical backgrounds overemphasize product innovation over distribution.
Building enduring companies requires a distribution-centric approach and a multi-product strategy.

ADVICE

Owning Distribution

Own your distribution channels.
The most successful companies like Salesforce build their own ecosystems instead of relying on external channels.

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Sumeet Gajri is the Chief Strategy Officer @ Carta, the startup that helps companies and investors manage their cap tables, valuations, investments, and equity plans. Sumeet is largely responsible for all things fundraising and M&A and Carta have raised over $485m from a16z, USV, Thrive, Spark, K9, Lightspeed and Meritech to name a few. Sumeet is also Managing Partner @ Original Capital, where he has partnered with companies including Front, Tonal, Instabase, Everlywell and Cockroach Labs to name a few. Finally, Sumeet is also an LP in world-leading firms such as USV and Valar Ventures.

In Today's Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Sumeet made his first foray into the world of venture in NYC having grown up in Scotland? How that led to his move to operations with Carta? How his learnings from Carta led to his establishing Original Capital?

2.) How is Original Capital different from every other micro-fund? How does Sumeet approach portfolio construction with the fund? What is the optimal number in a portfolio? How does Sumeet think about loss ratio? What 3 criteria dos every new investment have to pass to make it into the portfolio? How does check size vary by deal?

3.) How does Sumeet invest in some of the best companies in between "official rounds"? What does this conversation look like with the founders? How does Sumeet analyse reserve allocations? What makes the right strategy? What are his capital concentration limits per company? How does Sumeet think about using SPVs effectively?

4.) Sumeet helps his companies fundraise a lot, what does the first step look like? How does he advise on investor selection? How does he advise on pipeline management? Should founders speak to investors when they are not raising? How open should they be in these meetings? What can founders do to catalyse the process? Where does Sumeet see many founders make mistakes?

5.) How does Sumeet think about distribution vs product? What can founders do to adopt a more distribution first mindset? What have been some of Sumeet's biggest lessons in turning Carta from a single product company to a multi-product company? Do companies have to own their own lines of distribution today?

Items Mentioned In Today's Show:

Sumeet's Fave Book: Howard Marks: The Value of Predictions

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