- Could you start by sharing your background and what motivated you to get into venture capital?
I was a peace corps volunteer in Ukraine working in business development for small businesses. I became fascinated with drivers of economic growth and concluded that small businesses around world tend to stay localized and provide stability for economies while venture capital drives innovation and new job creation. I wanted to surround myself with big thinkers and creative people, so I chose to get into venture capital.
- Red Bear Angels is an angel investment group. What do you think are the key characteristics that make a startup an attractive investment opportunity for early-stage venture capital?
Team is most important. Do founders have the chops to persist, adjust, motivate. Does the idea, concept business have a realistic chance of being successful. Are there tailwinds we’ll benefit from or are there headwinds that will be difficult to overcome.
- Could you share success stories from your portfolio, such as investments in companies like Lyft and Trumid, and discuss the impact they’ve had?
Often getting into a good deal is less analysis and more strong networking and persistence. We were given an allocation to Lyft in the Series D round when they had already experienced huge success and no one doubted future growth. Trumid was also fairly well established and we bought into a later round. Sometimes certainty to a good exit with is better than taking on a lot of risk for a higher potential upside return.
- What unique challenges and opportunities do you encounter when investing in startups affiliated with the students, faculty, and alumni of a particular university?
Sometimes the strong desire to support an entrepreneur coming out of Cornell clouds our objectivity.
- What trends or emerging sectors are you most excited about, and where do you see untapped opportunities for innovation?
AI, Deeptech, Continued Energy Efficiency.