Best of Bootstrapping: The VC-Entrepreneur Compensation Disbalance

The compensation disbalance in the Venture Capital / Private Equity world remains quite stark. Take a look at the chart a friend once sent me showing some concrete data on VC compensation, and Private Equity industry performance.

VCs without much of an operating background constitute a trigger-happy lot, operating based on spreadsheets rather than experience or intuition. Of course there are exceptions, and VCs like John Doerr and Mike Moritz have created enormous value, and have effectively helped build the ecosystem as we know it today. Nonetheless, the few rounds of Silicon Valley Gold Rushes have made it possible for opportunists who have also managed to flourish.

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1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Cristobal Perdomo of Jaguar Ventures (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What are some of the highlights of recent companies that have crossed $5 million in revenues?

Cristobal Perdomo: It’s hard to know the revenues unless you’re actually working with them. We’re starting to see more Series C investments that are over $10 million.

Sramana Mitra: How many Series C’s have happened in the last 12 months?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Vikas Choudhury of Pivot 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 Vikas Choudhury was recorded in May 2019.

Vikas Choudhury is Managing Partner at Pivot Ventures and President at Reliance Jio. He is one of the earliest Angel investors in India and invested in early successes like InMobi and Myntra. We discuss the evolution of the Indian startup and venture capital industry.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as to both your activities.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Cristobal Perdomo of Jaguar Ventures (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: Are you seeing B2B SaaS in Latin America or is that not so much a trend? Is the trend more towards transaction-based marketplaces and FinTech?

Cristobal Perdomo: FinTech, across the world, is a hot topic. It has become too hot for my taste. That’s the largest sector of ventures you see. I also see SaaS B2B. We have another company that does Spotify for business.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Shripati Acharya of Prime Venture Partners (Part 5)

Shripati Acharya: I was talking to an entrepreneur yesterday. He was talking about why they turned down a chance to raise a lot of money.

One is that the structure of the company changes if you raise $10 million instead of $3 million. Sometimes, there are opportunities like that because we have oversubscribed rounds. There is a lot of interest in a particular area.  The cost structure changes instantly.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Cristobal Perdomo of Jaguar Ventures (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Let’s do some examples of what kinds of things you’ve invested in. It doesn’t matter if it’s from the first or second fund. What I want to understand is how you think about these investments.

When did they come to you? What did they have when they came to you? What did you see in these ventures to really convince you and compel you to write the check.

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Shripati Acharya of Prime Venture Partners (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: What did Cuivviv come to you with?

Shripati Acharya: They actually had the product. They were seeing initial traction. They might have had a hundred thousand questions in total. Today, a billion questions are solved on the platform. What I really liked about it is, they had an understanding and connected with the teachers.

Sramana Mitra: They have a teaching background?

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Cristobal Perdomo of Jaguar 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 Cristobal Perdomo was recorded in May 2019.

Cristobal Perdomo is Co-Founder and General Partner at Jaguar Ventures, a venture fund that invests in Latin America.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s get to know you. Tell us about yourself as well as Jaguar Ventures. What do you like to invest in? What sized funds are you working with?