Jason talks to Giuseppe Stuto, co-founder and managing partner of 186 Ventures. It is a venture capital firm founded by former high-growth tech executives themselves. They have been there, and they know how to advise people who are going through that same journey. Giuseppe explains that their criteria for investing in a company involve evaluating founder market fit, the competence and unique positioning of the founders, their understanding of the problem, and their passion and motivations for building the business.
Episode Highlights:
- 00:47: Giuseppe Stuto says that they are at an early stage precede and seed venture capital firm. So, they typically invest at the earliest stages. There may or may not be a company incorporated or maybe a business already with over $1,000,000 in annual revenue, but primarily invests in the US primarily in the Northeast.
- 01:43: Giuseppe shares how he and his best friend started angel investing.
- 07:25: As per Giuseppe for the most part, they make sure that they leave that initial meeting with two or three ways they can begin to provide value to that founder.
- 10:04: The investors focus on connecting companies with key team members and leveraging their extensive network of technical and industry experts to provide support and value to the companies they invest in.
- 11:57: Giuseppe emphasizes their role in assisting founders by aligning their goals, providing insights, and offering support through various programs tailored for founders and operators.
- 15:08: Giuseppe acknowledges that building an unsustainable model can be challenging to unwind, particularly in times of high cost of capital.
- 21:29: It's crucial to have a deep understanding of the local market when making investment decisions or implementing business strategies.
- 24:19: In the context of early-stage startups, the definition of "early stage" typically refers to the initial stages of a company's development, usually up until the Series A funding round.
3 Key Points:
- Giuseppe shares how in early 2019, the brand was founded and then in fall of 2021, they started investing out of their first institutional vehicle.
- Giuseppe talks about the 4 pillars that they consider when deciding upon investment.
- Jason expresses the desire to discuss the investments made in the fintech sector and asks Giuseppe to provide details about the companies they have invested in and what attracted them to those companies.
Tweetable Quotes:
- "Never before was there more of a time where founders should partner. With firms that actually have institutional know-how and being able to build companies themselves." - Giuseppe Stuto
- "In mid 2021, later on the peak actually where many funds were coming to market, new ones particularly we decided to institutionalize our platform and raise our first fund vehicle, which is a $37 million fund today." - Giuseppe Stuto
- "The experience of having been there and done, that's incredibly valuable, but there's also an underlying thesis to the investments." - Jason
Resources Mentioned:
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