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- The Accelerator Conundrum
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Venture Capital
1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Deborah Quazzo of GSV Ventures (Part 3)
Sramana Mitra: Can I stop you there for a second? I have a few questions. You’re looking for free distribution to teachers and students and monetization through parents. How do teachers, students, and parents find out about the product?
Deborah Quazzo: It was a viral adoption. In the case of Class Dojo, it was seated amongst teachers. They develop certain champions within school buildings. It’s a product for K-8, not K-12, but it was very viral.
>>>1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Deborah Quazzo of GSV Ventures (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: Our interest is primarily in actual seed and Series A. Let’s focus on that discussion. What do you like to see by way of proof points before you’re willing to write a check?
Deborah Quazzo: It’s interesting because we’re sector experts and we’ve been working in education technology for well over 20 years. I have a partner in Silicon Valley, Michael Moe, who wrote the original thesis for a Wall Street investment category around digital education in the mid-1990s.
>>>1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Deborah Quazzo of GSV 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 Deborah Quazzo was recorded in June 2020.
Deborah Quazzo is Managing Partner at GSV Ventures, a fund focused on online education ventures. This is a very good discussion on patterns of success and failure in the sector and what investors are gravitating towards.
>>>1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vincent Diallo of Interlace Ventures (Part 4)
Sramana Mitra: I think COVID has changed the dynamics to weigh heavier on e-commerce and online shopping. If you had to choose one channel, you need to be digital more than the local and physical.
I think this is a very big shift and as you said rightly, I think this is a five-year shift that has happened in five weeks.
>>>1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vincent Diallo of Interlace Ventures (Part 3)
Vincent Diallo: I could also mention Singuli, which is an investment we did in January. They’re active in forecasting with the first end goal in fashion that is also touching FMCG somehow. We suffered this pain as an operator. We know the risk in that inventory in terms of performance of the company.
One of the permanent questions was, “How do we improve the quality of our forecast?” What we did for them is exactly in line with our approach and positioning. Something I did not mention is that Interlace is not only focused on the investment space but is also verticalized in a way.
>>>1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vincent Diallo of Interlace Ventures (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: Let’s double-click down on stage. How do you define pre-seed and how do you define seed? Where are you comfortable? Do you need a proof of concept? What do you need? Do you need paying customers? What do you need to feel comfortable to write a check?
Vincent Diallo: I already invested on a PowerPoint presentation so I don’t need much in terms of advancement of the project. That’s the position of any pre-seed investor at that stage. I think a meaningful vision on a significant market is an excellent thing – always a good element.
>>>1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vincent Diallo of Interlace 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 Vincent Diallo was recorded in June 2020.
Vincent Diallo is Managing Partner at Interlace Ventures, a fund focused on retail tech.
>>>1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Christian Czernich of Round2 Capital Partners (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: It’s like a debt that is paid back as part of revenue share with some multiple of the funding amount.
Christian Czernich: Yes. Then the financing ends once the cap is reached. If there is an exit before that, that’s good. Then we normally exit the business as well. If there is no exit, we just have the revenue share until we reach the cap. This offers a lot more flexibility for the entrepreneur. We don’t force them to sell or pursue a specific path.
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