1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Evan Zimmerman, Chairman of Jovono (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What is the geography focus?

Evan Zimmerman: We mostly invest in the US but we actually have done a number of deals outside. The people who invest in the US primarily do so for a few reasons. For some people, it’s because they don’t feel that they can understand the local market. There are also some logistical and legal considerations. We’ve done a number of deals in Israel and UK. You’re seeing a lot more funds going to Latin America, but we haven’t done a deal yet.

One kind of deal we haven’t done yet just because of the way we run Jovono is working on versions of companies that service the local market like Airbnb for Brazil for example. We don’t feel like that’s where our competence lies.

The companies we’ve invested in outside of the US are technology companies. They’ve made something that’s the best in the world. They just need some help getting into markets outside their original market.

Sramana Mitra: Where are you located?

Evan Zimmerman: I’m based in California.

Sramana Mitra: In Silicon Valley or southern California?

Evan Zimmerman: I jump between the two.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s do some examples. Let’s understand your process. In what stage did you discover this company? How did that company come to you? What was it about that company that captured your imagination?

Evan Zimmerman: One example is Paragon. They’re doing really well. We invested the week they got into Y Combinator. They were people who I’ve known and had been following. I had been brainstorming with them about their startup. A really important thing for us is proof points. We invested in pre-seed. They already had proof points. The most important proof point is that this was based on a real problem that they faced as entrepreneurs in their previous company.

Sramana Mitra: What do they do?

Evan Zimmerman: They make a SaaS product that allows developers to build integrations with other SaaS products very quickly. Let’s say I’m a website and I want to have a Salesforce integration. Instead of learning how the Salesforce API works, I just use Paragon. They handle all that stuff for me.

They had proof points. They had already built early versions of the product. They already had attracted a few other investors. It was very small. They already had encountered that problem. In fact, I was a client of one of the founders. We encountered that problem. They had proof points. They had already started talking to customers. They talked to over a hundred people by the time they talked to me.

There’s this book called VC: An American History. It has the best exposition that I’ve ever seen. There are three core things that people talk about and focus on. They look at the market, people, and technology. Everyone cares about one of the three a little more than the others. It really depends on the company.

One of the things I care about a lot is not just that people are solving real problems. It’s also that they have grit and creativity. Those are things I care about a lot more than other people. The reality is the core advantage that startups have other than new technology is speed. You can work faster than a big company. They will eventually try to catch up to you once they realize you have something.

If you’re going to be really creative and if you are able to deal with hard stuff and examples or times that you’ve dealt with hard problems, those are things that are exciting. It doesn’t have to be that you are a previously successful founder. Some evidence of proof points from the market or in your life would be good.

This segment is part 2 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Evan Zimmerman, Chairman of Jovono
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