1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Yanev Suissa of SineWave Ventures (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: In this continuum of de-risking, where are you playing?

Yanev Suissa: All of these things are reasonable factors that any VCs would look at including us. But to build an investment thesis of only investing if certain factors exist is not logical.

We invest whether you have revenue or not, whether you have built the technology or not. It depends. If you’re a brilliant engineer in a space that you have expertise in and have worked in and we have either an existing relationship or a faith in your >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Yanev Suissa of SineWave Ventures (Part 5)

Sramana Mitra: There are plenty of VCs focusing heavily on revenue numbers in the seed stage right now.

Yanev Suissa: I remember I qualified it as who I know and who I respect.

Sramana Mitra: I think I’d beg to differ there. There’re plenty of good VCs who are also focusing on revenue numbers at the seed stage partly because there is a lot of bootstrapping going on. People are doing so because they can and because they’re getting access to deals. They are making a lot of progress on their own getting into serious ARR numbers before coming into financing. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Yanev Suissa of SineWave Ventures (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: That was my conclusion when you prefaced the conversation that you are focusing on these government networks. You have a special unfair advantage in government relationships. I guess I’m a little bit thrown off by your comment that very niche funds is not where your bet is, which is a contrary to what you’re saying.

Yanev Suissa: Absolutely not. That would be 100% of a wrong impression. So let me explain who our strategic network is. The strategic network that we work with is an ecosystem of partners, investors, and people >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Yanev Suissa of SineWave Ventures (Part 3)

Yanev Suissa: Obviously, we are financial investors and we do financial analysis. When I invest and decide on a company, what I’m looking at is not a ratio analysis of their past stock performance. I’m looking at the team, the market, their product, and their technology differentiation. It’s a much more on-the-ground advisory active type of investing. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Yanev Suissa of SineWave Ventures (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Which is why I’m probing you on this topic.

Yanev Suissa: My experience with NEA is that they are a great investor at the seed stage. There’s typically a partner or a principal level person who sponsors the seed stage deal. That partner or principal-level person will still be active. >>>

1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Yanev Suissa of SineWave 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 Yanev Suissa was recorded in October 2017.

Yanev Suissa is General Partner at SineWave Ventures out of Washington DC and Silicon Valley. The firm invests alongside some major firms like Andreessen Horowitz and NEA. Yanev talks about how they invest, and also the trends he sees.

Sramana Mitra: So tell us about SineWave Ventures. What is the focus of your firm? How big is the fund? What size investments do you make? >>>

Can You Bootstrap a Unicorn with Your Paycheck?

Let’s say you have a great idea for a startup and you have the ambition of building a billion dollar company — a Unicorn. Should you immediately quit your job and jump in with both feet?

Or should you bootstrap this idea with a paycheck to validation? May be to profitability? Is it even possible to bootstrap a Unicorn startup with a paycheck? Has anyone ever bootstrapped a Unicorn with a paycheck?
>>>

Can You Bootstrap a Unicorn Startup?

Let’s say you have a great idea for a startup and you have the ambition of building a billion dollar company — a Unicorn. Should you look for investors?

Or should you bootstrap this idea to profitability? Is it even possible to bootstrap a Unicorn startup? Has anyone ever bootstrapped one?

I suggest you start by bootstrapping your idea.

That would give you options: you can either bootstrap all the way, or bootstrap first, validate, raise money later. Investors tend to chase validated businesses.

Here is an example of a bootstrapped Unicorn in this 56 second video. Investors have chased this entrepreneur for years and years and years.

>>>