DISQUS

The Equity Kicker: European venture increasingly favours hi-risk, hi-return investments

  • Fabio De Bernardi · 1 year ago
    Always nice to hear encouraging words when you're on the entrepreneurial side. However I recently had a chat with a London VC whose point of view I much respect and he basically said one 'scary' thing. Discussing about the market need my start up is addressing his point of view was that the market is definitely hot but it's not yet clear which solution of the problem will prove to be right, therefore getting VC funding won't be easy because everybody is waiting for somebody else to take the first move (note, we're talking around £1M mark, not tens of millions).
    Well, to me this doesn't sound very much like a daring behaviour. I know this should be put more into context but I'd very appreciate your honest reality check about all these nice words being said lately in the UK VC scene.

    Best,
    Fabio
  • nic · 1 year ago
    Hi Fabio,

    In a situation like yours you need to find a VC who strongly believes that your solution of the problem will win out. Trying to think about how we would look at your situation I can see us making an investment if the supporting partner stood up and said there are a number of potential solutions in the market, but this one WILL WIN because of X, Y and Z. If the support for your solution was more equivocal it would be difficult.

    As individuals making investments we need to feel sure, whilst acknowledging that we might be wrong.

    Hope that helps.

    best,
    Nic
  • Fabio De Bernardi · 1 year ago
    Fair enough Nic.

    By definition a problem with many possible solutions (unproven if it wasn't enough) is a minefield and uncertainty reigns (otherwise why being 'scared' to invest?).
    Therefore it turns to be a sales pitch more than everything else... Clearly I'm a bit exaggerating, however it's nice to know your point of view so that we will be able to tailor our pitch considering this added complexity as well.

    Fabio