Roundtable Recap: August 8 – An Innovative Take on VC Funding

During this week’s roundtable, we had Jonathan Nelson, CEO, Founder at Hackers/Founders, and Managing Director of Hack Fund V. Jonathan discussed an innovative take his fund is taking on VC funding.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Nnamdi Okike of 645 Ventures (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: I want to comment a little bit on your personalized experience theme. I did one of the first ever online personalized fashion companies 20 years ago. The data was not quite there. Now, that’s something that a lot of people are working on.

This is a category of products that require quite a bit of technology development to work. The question is a bit of a subtle question. You want to come in after there is some validation.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Nnamdi Okike of 645 Ventures (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: What trends are you seeing in your deal flow? What strikes you as emerging trends?

Nnamdi Okike: There are three themes that we use to drive our sourcing strategy. These themes have evolved as a result of what we are seeing in the market, as well as where we’ve done well historically. The first is what we call software for the second wave.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Nnamdi Okike of 645 Ventures (Part 4)

Nnamdi Okike: A second one in a different category is a business called Overtime. Overtime is headquartered in New York. I describe Overtime as ESPN meets Snapchat. It’s very viral content. It’s user-generated.

It focuses on the millennial generation that consumes content in a very different way. They’re looking at highlights. They are sharing things on social media. Oftentimes, they’re not watching the full game. They really want to get inside the game and understand the players and players’ lives.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Nnamdi Okike of 645 Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Also I think it’s much easier to build companies when you don’t have your scalp being poached all the time. It’s impossible to build companies when your team is constantly being poached. If you’re located in a major location where there is a lot of competition for talent, it’s very problematic.

Nnamdi Okike: Yes, that’s a great point.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Nnamdi Okike of 645 Ventures (Part 2)

Nnamdi Okike: We look at the round after that. What we are looking for are companies that typically have built an early product and have some early traction. If it’s software selling to small businesses, maybe they have 10 early customers.

These are companies that don’t have a lot of revenue. Usually when we come upon them, they may have a couple of hundred thousand of ARR. They’re looking to scale up. Typically, they have a big market opportunity and founders who have a high-level of dedication.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Nnamdi Okike of 645 Ventures (Part 1)

Responding to a popular request, we are now sharing transcripts of our investor podcast interviews in this new series. The following interview with Nnamdi Okike was recorded in June 2019.

Nnamdi Okike is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at 645 Ventures. We have an excellent conversation about trends and his firm’s investment thesis.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about 645 Ventures and your journey a little bit so we get to know you.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Francis Simisim of Original Pitch Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: How does the Filipino ecosystem interface with the rest of the Southeast Asian ecosystem? Where are the partnerships that you’re seeing?

Francis Simisim: Philippines is an island on its own. It’s somewhat purgatory. We are raising smaller money than a regional VC’s ticket size. If they raise locally, it’s a big round and it’s too expensive. We are in a tough place. We are still establishing a lot of the regional partners.