1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Jason Cahill of McCune Capital (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: The stratification that’s happening in the industry right now is creating a different dynamic. Earlier, a small fund would not even exist. Right now, smaller funds exist. The smaller funds take the company for three to five years of its life, and then it exits into the larger funds, which would take it to the next 5 to 10 years of its life instead of the small funds growing from 0 to 10-year time frame.

That’s an okay dynamic. That actually works if people start to understand that there are different roles and different ways of playing this venture investment game. That works too. Do you want to say a few things to our entrepreneurs on how you want to work with them before we conclude? This is a fascinating conversation. It’s exactly the kind of conversation that should be happening in our industry.

Jason Cahill: How do I like to work with founders? I guess the three dimensions that I look at are code, capital, and customers. Generally speaking, for founders that just have started the company, you’re either a business-side person or a tech-side person. I have met three people in my lifetime that are phenomenal folks. Typically, you do one or the other.

So if you’re great at fundraising, you probably aren’t as great at hiring the right people. Based on my military background, do an assessment quickly to figure out if you’re going to make it, what is going to be the cause, and how do we make your weakness a strength quickly. So if you come to me to tell me everything is awesome, then I don’t really have time to work with you because you don’t need my help. If you simply want a check, I’m probably not the right investor for you.

I tend to open up my LP base and open up my network to figure out other customers that I might introduce you to. Can I find somebody on the HR side that’s going to be a great fit? That’s where I’d like to work with entrepreneurs. After the context for this, I’ll teach a class. I’m an advisor. We just like to meet entrepreneurs. The earlier, the better. I’m not going to write a check as I’m walking out of the parking lot because I understand what makes you tick.

If you saw a problem that I haven’t talked about or that isn’t indicated on our website, then probably we’re not a good fit. Tech founders tend to talk for hours and hours about solutions, and business founders tend to talk about market sizes. Even though both are viable, ultimately you care about the team. How long have you been working together? What makes you uniquely qualified to solving problems?

Brian Chesky, founder of Airbnb, didn’t run hotels when he first thought of Airbnb. He’s the bright caliber person for this job. That’s what I look for – that intestinal fortitude that these operators are going to hit it out of the park.

Sramana Mitra: Terrific! Thank you for your time. That was a great conversation.

This segment is part 5 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Jason Cahill of McCune Capital
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