1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Stewart Alsop of Alsop Louie Partners (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: In the domain of self-driving cars, are there things that you have identified as opportunities where startups can play and perhaps venture-scale opportunities within that realm?

Stewart Alsop: We’re the lead investor of Twitch, which was purchased by Amazon about a year and a half ago. I’ve written checks to two of the founders who then started new companies. One of them started a company called Cruise Automation. Cruise Automation went down its path as a venture-backed startup developing autonomous driving capabilities originally as an add-on to existing cars.

I brought them in because I thought that what they were doing is pretty interesting. My partner thought I was crazy for >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Stewart Alsop of Alsop Louie Partners (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 Stewart Alsop was recorded in May 2016. 

Stewart Alsop, Partner at Alsop Louie Partners, has been a VC for 20 years, and before that, a journalist for another 20 years in the technology industry. This conversation is wide-ranging, spanning autonomous vehicles, unreasonable entrepreneurs, etc.

Sramana Mitra: You’ve been in the business for 20 plus years and you’ve covered technology as a journalist 20 years before that. I’ve been in the business for 20 years. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Swati Chaturvedi of Propel(x) Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about the types of ideas your investors are looking for.

Swati Chaturvedi: There is a big trend of combining hardware with software. Robotics is another trend. What is specific to Propel(x) is, we do need some specific innovation.

Sramana Mitra: When it comes to IT and specific innovation, there are niche opportunities that are not as easily open right now given where we are in the history of technology. Let’s say there’s a particular sector of cloud computing. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Todd Belfer of Canal Partners (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Talk to us a little bit about geography. You mentioned you’re operating at about five geographies. What are the dynamics of these geographies? I know WebPT is in Arizona. What are the dynamics of the Arizona market right now? Are you seeing a lot of deal flow?

Todd Belfer: I see a lot of healthcare deals in Arizona. We see a lot of B2C deals.

Sramana Mitra: But you don’t do B2C. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Todd Belfer of Canal Partners (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: I’m in agreement with you, by and large. Let me then parse what you said. You’re talking about $1 million to $3 million investment in a company that is doing $1 million ARR. What is the calculation here? Are you going to exit the company with that capital infusion or are you expecting that company to go through another round of financing and still exit for relatively smaller amounts of money? How do you think about deals?

Todd Belfer: We built our businesses in the 80’s and the 90’s before there were venture capital markets. We didn’t take on a >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Swati Chaturvedi of Propel(x) Ventures (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: How about some examples of companies that you have funded within the IT sector?

Swati Chaturvedi: One company was including a software in chips sent to OEMs like the Samsungs of the world. The idea there is it is an Internet of Things application. Those chips track every connected device in the home. The idea there is can you understand why those devices are failing. Is it because of the device itself or is it because of Internet failures? That was helpful.

Another company that we’re doing in information technology is focused on gesture recognition. The goal is that they >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Todd Belfer of Canal Partners (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 Todd Belfer was recorded in October 2017. 

Todd Belfer, Managing Partner of Canal Partners, talks about financing early-stage niche B-to-B SaaS opportunities.

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about Canal Partners. What is the focus of the firm? How big is the fund? What size investments do you make? Where are you based?

Todd Belfer: I started Canal Partners nine years ago because I saw need in the South West to fund early stage software >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Swati Chaturvedi of Propel(x) 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 Swati Chaturvedi was recorded in August 2017. 

Swati Chaturvedi is Co-founder and CEO at Propel(x), an online platform where entrepreneurs are connected to angels. Swati and I discussed some of the key trends of the seed financing eco-system as viewed from Propel(x).

Sramana Mitra: Tell us about Propel(x).

Swati Chaturvedi: Propel(x) is an investment marketplace where we connect startups with accredited investors. Our goal is >>>