Last Call to Register: How to Gain Independence as a CVC Fund | Our Treasure Trove of Resources
Tune in this Thursday to hear from CVC leaders about raising external capital while maintaining their corporate LP's brand name.
Increasing independence can take on many forms, getting off the balance sheet, creating a separate IC, converting to a multi-LP structure or a complete spin-out. Hear a behind-the-scenes take from Beckett Jackson on the spin-out HorizonX (Boeing’s CVC fund) to AE Industrial Partners and Anish Srivastava on how Swisscom Ventures was able to raise external capital. Join us tomorrow at 9:00AM PT.
Thursday, February 15th
9:00-10:00 AM Pacific Time
Register: Directly via Zoom with the link below or head to the events page on counterclub.vc.
Don’t forget to download the Counter Club app to access all our events online. The mobile browser experience is not ideal so we encourage you to download the app from the App Store:
Independent CVCs, By the Numbers
Of the 209 CVCs who filled out our 2023 State of CVC Benchmarking Survey with SVB:
38% of CVC funds spend more than 40% of their time managing the corporate parent.
17% of CVCs self-reported that they were becoming more independent with their parent organization, rather than becoming more strategic or staying the same.
With less than 6% of total survey respondents investing out of a multi-LP Fund Structure.
We encourage CVCs to join the online event whether you are curious about the benefits of a multi-LP structure or considering a complete spin-out of your fund.
Speakers
Check out our treasure trove of CVC insights
If you are a new Counter Club member or couldn’t make it to our events, we wanted to remind you to head to the notes section on Counter Club where you will be able to access learnings, quotes and takeaways from almost all our events.
Here are a few of our favorite nuggets:
Patrick Eggen on setting up a small group of 2-3 people for a streamlined investment approval process at Qualcomm Ventures Early Stage Fund: “It’s dead simple and clever, but it requires total buy-in upfront as opposed to piecemeal approvals. We set up an entirely different approval process focused on speed, conviction and dealing with imperfect info so we could make a decision in 48-72 hours." How to Launch a CVC Fund Pt.1 Summary Notes
Prof. Ilya Strebulaev’s presentation “The Venture Mindset,” a sampler ahead of his May 21 book release: Say “no” one hundred times: CVCs typically say no to companies in a very different way compared to traditional VCs. Traditional venture often asks “Why don't I want to invest?” as the best method to review the 100-10 startups in the scouting funnel. Starting at 100 deals, VCs narrow down to 10 by discerning very quickly why they don’t want to invest in the majority of the deals top of the funnel. Counter IV Summary Notes
Chris Langford’s Post-Mortem of Lowe’s Ventures where they focused on where they could win. They often heard “You’re the first person I’ve talked to who understands my industry.” Chris emphasized that Sand Hill Road couldn’t understand an industry like home improvement the way he could. Startups would try to make room on the cap table for Lowe’s because of this. Emerging CVC 2023 Recap
As always, this is accessible to only corporate VCs in our community. If you are not yet a member, you can request to join and then access all past summaries and future notes:
Roundup of Other Upcoming Events
Counterpart Ventures Presents: Investor, Founder, & Friends B2B SaaS Happy Hour
February 27th, 5:30 PM - 7:30 PM Pacific Time
Future of Food & Ag-Tech Happy Hour
Thursday, March 21st, 5:30 PM-8:30 PM Pacific Time
Deal Party: Healthcare (Digital Healthcare + Therapeutics)
Online, April 25th, 10:00-11:00 AM Pacific Time
Women in CVC Summit
Thursday, May 9th
Deal Party: Resources (ClimateTech)
Online, June 26th, 10:00-11:00 AM Pacific Time
See you soon,
Counterpart Ventures