Team San Diego! I though you may find this as surprising as I did...we are not alone. Read this quick article from Jon Prentice's (Silicon Valley Bank) interview with with James Newell (Voyager Capital), published in GeekWire on Seattle's innovation ecosystem....they lament the SAME issues as we do in San Diego: * Lack of angel investors, (Especially, it calls out, given the local giant tech co's) * "We need low-conviction check writers." * Lack of "cachet associated with being an angel investor" - We have similar efforts (as described in the article) to drum up angel activity: NuFund Venture Group and, Interlock Capital (read the article and you'll see why the Interlock effort is tops as relates to "paying back into the ecosystem") Connect.org strives to 'connect' innovative companies with investors of all types (angel, VC, PE...) - just see "Innovation Day". Their Springboard program provides another great way for experienced entrepreneurs to give back through mentorship...as for the companies going through Springboard: "Ask for advice, and you often get $$" Your thoughts on the article or San Diego innovation ecosystem? https://lnkd.in/gfwq6mfq
Scot Ginsburg
1mo
Eric Otterson great share‼️
Jon Murphy
1mo
Insightful stuff Eric!
Experienced Advisor and Entrepreneur
1moWhen I read "low-conviction check writers", I am not sure how that works in practice. My experience is angels want to generate a return on their capital and a mostly ad hoc diligence process takes time. This can lead to a frustrating process for founders to get seed capital. Are SV angels low conviction, or are they more comfortable seeding companies because of local "upstream" VC's that can invest and help scale those investments? It would be amazing if more early stage VC's focused on San Diego, but outside of life sciences there are not many options. Could a venture firm that fit these characteristics succeed here? - Professionally managed capital with a mix of institutional LP's and strategic angels with a mandate to invest early. - A well-networked GP with advisors who can both guide founders and leverage their networks to open doors for portfolio companies. - A strong relationship with the universities and research institutes here to get more startups built and funded with a nexus to San Diego. The challenge? In my conversations with out of market VCs, they believe a fund size closer to $100MM vs. $10MM is needed. Obviously this is easier said than done, but perhaps it is time.