Venture Studio (13): Jeff Clavier, Founder SoftTech VC (or, "A Well-Tempered Clavier")

This is Episode (13) of Venture Studio

I sat down recently to speak with with angel investor turned MicroVC, Jeff Clavier, @jeff, founder of SoftTechVC I, II & III on a recent visit of his to NYC. (My thanks to the great people at Polaris Ventures' DogPatch Labs down in Greenwhich Village for hosting our talk.)

Jeff is a fascinating guy who saw a special opportunity in 2004 to invest in capital-efficient Web 2.0-type companies and got into angel investing in a big way, investing his own money in 20+ companies. He turned out to be enormously gifted at it. Hearkening back to my recent Series on Angel Investing, he most certainly skipped the "Mug" phase that Mark Suster and I have joked about. 

He then had the opportunity to raise a small fund and thus became what the press like to call a "Super-Angel"- but what really is more aptly-named, a MicroVC. After 65 investments in this Fund (SoftTech VC II), he has now launched SoftTechVC III, (aka "the real-deal"as he jokingly called it) which will still be a "small" fund, but certainly considerably larger than II.

It was great to hear Jeff's perspective on early-stage investing, the market segments that interest him these days and how he has evolved over the years as an investor. Enjoy.

:26  -  A little background on @jeff & how he first got into angel investing

1:19 -  Raising his first micro-fund in 2004, which was $15M in size

1:43 - The pioneers in the MicroVC space, including Josh Kopelman

2:23 - On making 65 investments in SoftTechVC II w/10 exits already(!)

3:05 - Launching SoftTechVC III & venture partner Charles Hudson

4:14 - What types of companies/sectors will III be investing in? (See Matrix)  Listen carefully here about Jeff's approach to various sectors

6:02 - After 99 investments & reaching this level- what changes in your approach?

7:21 - Epic Line: "In our business there's no pride- we basically do whatever it takes to help our companies"

7:31 - Jeff's perspective on acquisitions (of which he's had 17!) and how he works w/his portfolio company entrepreneurs in this regard

9:01 -  Has he noticed network effects amongst his portfolio companies?

9:55 - Jeff invests in a bunch of NYC companies- what are his thoughts on NYC?

11:11 - What are the biggest challenges for him?

12:47 - What's an average day like for Jeff?

SOFTTECH VC III (so far)

                  

               

Venture Studio (12): Matt Harris, Co-Founder of Village Ventures

This is Episode (12) of Venture Studio

Welcome to this week's conversation with Matt Harris, co-founder and Managing General Partner of Village Ventures, a NYC-based $135m venture fund focused on both the media and financial services sectors. Matt founded Village Ventures with his college roommate Bo Peabody approximately eleven years ago and together they've grown their network of partner funds to 15 in size across the United States and Europe.

Matt is the partner in his fund who invests exclusively in financial services companies sitting on the Boards of such companies as iSend, OnDeck Capital, TxVia, BlueTarp Financial and others. As you'll learn in the conversation below, he's extremely bullish on the mobile payments and point-of-sale space. You can also get acquainted with his point of view on things on his blog, aptly named- For The Win.

At the risk of embarassing him it must be said that, (to put it mildly), he's held in great esteem not just by the entrepreneurs in whom he invests but notably by his many peers in the investment community. Enough said.... Enjoy

:20  -  Getting to know Village Ventures- their story 

1:14 -  The Village Ventures network of partner funds

2:05 - The financial services sector & mobile payments in particular

3:17 - The value prop of portfolio company, BankSimple

5:22 - "The linkage between geography & banking has been severed"

6:34 - Portfolio company: OnDeck Capital

7:54 - "Venture is most fun when you are solving a societal problem"

8:04 - Learn about the Village Ventures portfolio

9:24 - What's going on in venture in Europe/UK? 

10:24 -  Matt's thoughts on the Mobile Payments & Point-of-Sale space

 11:17 - I ask Matt about his blog, "For the Win"

Click Here for Venture Studio (13) w/ Jeff Clavier, Founder SoftTech VC