20VC: Explosion of First Time Funds, Only 1 Mega Fund Raised: What The Heck Happened in Q1 Venture Markets with Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 1 May 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Summary
Beezer Clarkson is Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures where she leads Sapphire’s investments in venture funds domestically and internationally. Prior to joining Sapphire, Beezer managed day-to-day operations @ DFJ’s Global Network, which had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide. She has also spent time at Omidyar Network created by Ebay founder, Pierre Omdiyar, Hewlett Packard and Morgan Stanley. Beezer also founded OpenLP.com, an effort to help foster greater understanding in the entrepreneur-to-LP tech ecosystem.
1.) How did Beezer make her way into the world of limited partners?
2.) How has the venture industry performed as a whole for Q1 2017 both in funds raised and $ invested? How does this compare to previous years?
3.) How is the 1st time fund manager ecosystem developing? Is it fair to say that first-time funds and micro funds are now an established part of LP portfolios? To what extent does shortening fund cycles concern Beezer?
4.) What other areas of the market have we seen explosive growth in? Why was the # of $100-$250m down last year? Why is it different this year?
5.) How does Beezer analyze the recent activity in the public markets? How does this liquidity affect the fundraising market for both startups and GPs? Will we see a return to bubble like times?
The thoughts, comments and opinions in this podcast do not represent investment advice and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sapphire Ventures.
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to another week in the world of the 20 minute VC with me, your host, Harry Stebbings, |
| 0:04.0 | and you can find me on Snapchat at H. Stebbings with 2Bs. It would be great to see you there. However, |
| 0:08.8 | to the show today, and one of my very favourite types of shows to record. Now, you might remember we had Beza Clarkson, |
| 0:13.8 | managing director at Sapphire Ventures on the show in the past, and now every quarter we're thrilled to welcome Beezer back to break down the market performance and |
| 0:21.4 | activity. But before we dive into the numbers with Beza, for those that didn't hear Beezza's prior |
| 0:25.5 | shows, Beezer's managing director at Sapphire Ventures, where she leads Sapphire's investments |
| 0:29.7 | in venture funds domestically and internationally. And prior to joining Sapphire, Beza managed |
| 0:34.1 | day-to-day operations at DFJ's Global Network, which had 7 billion under-management |
| 0:38.4 | across 16 venture funds worldwide. She also spent time at OmidyR Network, created by eBay |
| 0:43.4 | founder Pierre Omidy, Hewlett-Packard, and Morgan Stanley. Bezza also founded Open LP, |
| 0:48.4 | one of my all-time favorite resources in venture, in an effort to help foster greater understanding |
| 0:53.0 | in the entrepreneur to LPPTec ecosystem. |
| 0:55.3 | It really is a must if you haven't checked it out. |
| 0:57.3 | But before we dive into the show state, I really want to talk to you about a company that's |
| 1:00.6 | really changed the way I sleep and operate. |
| 1:03.3 | Eight is a sleep innovation company with their latest product, the Eight Smart Mattress, |
| 1:07.4 | being a bed that literally tells you how well you slept last night, paired with an |
| 1:11.4 | intelligent sensor cover that measures the quality of your sleep and delivers a daily sleep report. |
| 1:16.4 | In order to bring you the best product, 8 used anonymized sleep data and feedback from over |
| 1:20.7 | 10,000 people to understand which materials and types of mattresses give customers the best |
| 1:26.0 | sleep, resulting in their unique blend of four |
| 1:28.5 | responsive and high-density foam layers, plus one layer of proprietary technology that helps people |
... |
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