Venture Studio (13): Jeff Clavier, Founder SoftTech VC (or, "A Well-Tempered Clavier")

This is Episode (13) of Venture Studio

I sat down recently to speak with with angel investor turned MicroVC, Jeff Clavier, @jeff, founder of SoftTechVC I, II & III on a recent visit of his to NYC. (My thanks to the great people at Polaris Ventures' DogPatch Labs down in Greenwhich Village for hosting our talk.)

Jeff is a fascinating guy who saw a special opportunity in 2004 to invest in capital-efficient Web 2.0-type companies and got into angel investing in a big way, investing his own money in 20+ companies. He turned out to be enormously gifted at it. Hearkening back to my recent Series on Angel Investing, he most certainly skipped the "Mug" phase that Mark Suster and I have joked about. 

He then had the opportunity to raise a small fund and thus became what the press like to call a "Super-Angel"- but what really is more aptly-named, a MicroVC. After 65 investments in this Fund (SoftTech VC II), he has now launched SoftTechVC III, (aka "the real-deal"as he jokingly called it) which will still be a "small" fund, but certainly considerably larger than II.

It was great to hear Jeff's perspective on early-stage investing, the market segments that interest him these days and how he has evolved over the years as an investor. Enjoy.

:26  -  A little background on @jeff & how he first got into angel investing

1:19 -  Raising his first micro-fund in 2004, which was $15M in size

1:43 - The pioneers in the MicroVC space, including Josh Kopelman

2:23 - On making 65 investments in SoftTechVC II w/10 exits already(!)

3:05 - Launching SoftTechVC III & venture partner Charles Hudson

4:14 - What types of companies/sectors will III be investing in? (See Matrix)  Listen carefully here about Jeff's approach to various sectors

6:02 - After 99 investments & reaching this level- what changes in your approach?

7:21 - Epic Line: "In our business there's no pride- we basically do whatever it takes to help our companies"

7:31 - Jeff's perspective on acquisitions (of which he's had 17!) and how he works w/his portfolio company entrepreneurs in this regard

9:01 -  Has he noticed network effects amongst his portfolio companies?

9:55 - Jeff invests in a bunch of NYC companies- what are his thoughts on NYC?

11:11 - What are the biggest challenges for him?

12:47 - What's an average day like for Jeff?

SOFTTECH VC III (so far)

                  

               

Mark Suster Brings Down the House at Columbia University

Last night I had the pleasure of conducting a wide-ranging interview with Mark Suster at Columbia University's Business School. The event was organized by the Columbia Venture Community and co-hosted by Columbia Tech Ventures and the New York Venture Community, although we had many guests from the Silicon Alley community at large. Mark spoke candidly about his life experience and insights gleaned over the years from being a 2x entrepreneur, mentor, and more recently as a venture investor in front of a packed crowd of entrepreneurship enthusiasts from the student body, faculty, alumni ranks and from the venture capital and angel communities alike. The video, which was shot by Tobin Schwaiger-Hastanan, is posted just above. 

It was a special evening, not just for his candor and insights- but also for the fact that Mark ended up staying with us for hours- late into the night, meeting and talking with everyone who wanted to chat with him after his talk had ended. The Columbia community has been abuzz about his appearance since then- and people were was still raving about him today at Steve Blank's talk. Ironically, I had posted my appreciation for people who give so much of themselves to the community just yesterday!

If you can't listen to the entire 2 hours of the talk itself, I highly recommend you go to the following sections of his talk:

Minute 33: What he's looking for in an entrepreneur. "Someone who can go right up to the line"... "Something you can't teach people"

Minute 37:27: "Life in a startup is a lot of fighting"

Minute 40: Co-founders and Compensation

Minute 42: On Mentorship and Mentorship Programs  

Minute 49: On the NY and LA entrepreneurial ecosystems

Minute 50: The Importance of "Patron" Companies

Minute 56: Super-Angels: "They don't exist, it's an extinct species" .... "It's Bull#*%!!"

Minute 57: New Class of Early-Stage VC's 

Minute 59: The Signaling Problem: "Complete and Utter Bull$%@"

Minute 59: VC's of all types

Minute 1:06 The Importance of Learning from Other Entrepreneurs

Minute 1:13 Awesome Q & A Begins!! 

Hope you enjoy!

(Suster prior to "bringing down the house" at Columbia University)