1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Mark Achler of MATH Venture Partners 2021 (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: Is the fund strategy chasing unicorns? Are all your companies looking to become unicorns?

Mark Achler: No, I’m from Chicago. We are from the Midwest. I like to roll my sleeves and build real companies solving real problems. If they turn into a unicorn, then that’s great. The odds of that happening is slim. We are not building our portfolio predicated upon the expectation that every company turns into a unicorn. 

Sramana Mitra: I remember you saying that before as well. I was just checking if you have evolved in that perspective. 

Mark Achler: I wouldn’t mind. It would be nice. 

Sramana Mitra: If your sole goal is to find companies that have the potential to become unicorns, then you would have to invest differently. You would ignore a lot of things that can give more modest returns.

There is a school of thought that it would take as much effort to crack a large problem as it does to crack a small problem. There aren’t as many large problems as there are smaller problems.

Yes, it takes as much effort to build a company. Given my agenda to democratize entrepreneurship and get people all over the world to do this, you can’t have this philosophy that everybody needs to be a large company. 

Mark Achler: We have a mission. We believe in a long-time horizon. We are building a firm that we hope will be around for decades – one that will endure. We believe in building relationships and giving back. We have a give-first mentality.

We are always helping and mentoring entrepreneurs to do everything we can to build the ecosystem. Having that longer time horizon also enables us because we know that we are going to be there for a long time. We like to invest in entrepreneurs. 

Sramana Mitra: I’ve talked to entrepreneurs with funds of your size because that is where there has been an explosion of funds – the micro VC category. We see a lot of people coming from that world. Many of your colleagues or peers in that segment are thinking innovatively.

In some cases, they are thinking of exiting through strategic deals, but in some cases I also see people in the early stage exiting the series B or C. That has become a trend. 

Mark Achler: So far, we like what we are doing. In fund two, we decided to keep the same thesis and philosophy. We have more money and we are investing more, but it’s the same thesis. About a year from now, we’ll start the process for the next fund.

We like our spot. We think that we are good at it. We think about the value add. I’ve been a CEO four times already. I have built and grown several companies including a multi-billion-dollar company.

We think that money is just money and that our value add is our operational skills and our ability to help our portfolio companies grow and scale. We are good at the early stages, so that is where we are going to continue investing in.

Sramana Mitra: Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 4 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Mark Achler of MATH Venture Partners 2021
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