As the final part of this interview series with SaaSholic venture capitalist founder Gustavo Souza, we touched upon people he looks up to. Who? Peter Livingston. And we talked about why. I/ But first, who is Peter Livingston? Peter Livingston began as a full-time employee in a tech company. The company did perform very well and IPOed. He hit the jackpot and…
About two years ago, before the pandemic broke out, I spoke to Alexandre Scialom, a business angel friend of mine based in Silicon Valley who is working on building up his own fund, Fresh Ventures. Alex told me that any Business Angel hoping to invest in Y Combinator startups must sign a million-dollar checks to get a seat at the board. That’s a lot…
Gustavo and I recently talked about what venture capitalists do. In this article we look at each activity and try to and position it on a “most important/hardest matrix”. The most important and hardest matrix The X axis defines the most important activities venture capitalist have to do. In the previous post, Gustavo and I discussed the main generic activities that investors do and…
In the innovation ecosystem, venture capitalist stand apart. A source of money and ideas, entrepreneurs seek their advice and capital while industry leaders glean their insight on disruptions in the market. So clearly, venture capitalists are coveted. But what do they do? I cover this topic with Managing Director of venture capital firm SaaSholic, Gustavo Souza. I/ A Very Brief Introduction of Gustavo…
What is biomimicry? Why do products and services whose invention originated from the cautious and careful observation of nature stand a chance to reconcile our current way of life and continued economic development? In what way is biomimicry helping us manage the pandemic on a short-term basis? And, while biomimicry has a long history dating back from the European Renaissance, what are biomimicry’s most promising developments in the near future?…
What’s the South African innovation ecosystem like? Why does it appear to be one of the most promising tech geographies today? In what way are major trends such as population growth, social and economic progress, market consolidation, and technology assets playing a role in turning the African innovation ecosystem into the world’s next powerhouse? I discuss these matters (and more!) with 2 prominent innovators based in South Africa : Audrey…
How to build a successful marketplace based startup? And why would one want to focus on building such a startup in the first place? What are the most promising segments in the space today? To tackle these questions, I draw on: A recent conversation with the world’s top seed investor and expert in marketplaces, Fabrice Grinda A recent conversation with Romain Serman, Head of BPI…
Fabrice Grinda, the world’s top seed investor, is developing an efficient investment strategy and achieving a steady 68% realized Internal Rate of Returns since 2009 across 540 startup investments by following a specific investment guide. Fabrice is following an investment philosophy much different from most Venture Capitalists: 1/ Many VCs are spending their time in low return startups while Fabrice, independent of LPs for capital,…
In previous post, showed that Fabrice Grinda is generating handsome returns for several reasons : wise time allocation going for a high potential business model efficient risk mitigation unit economics Today, I’m going to look at a few other principles. Sixth principle to securing handsome returns : Fabrice is assessing a team’s relevance based on 2 distinct abilities 1/ Do we like the team?…
In a previous post, I discussed how the world’s top seed-investor, the Franco-American Fabrice Grinda is generating superior returns in seed investment. I discussed 2 of his 8 principles, including wise time allocation and going for startups operating on platform-based business model. Today, I talk about several other principles related to platforms and funding positioning. Third principle on generating superior returns in seed investment…