20VC: More $ Raised This Year Than The Past 15, War Chests Being Built & Decline In First Time Funds: So What The Heck Is Happening In Venture 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
🗓️ 24 October 2016
⏱️ 29 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 runs the incredible openlp.com which is really opening up the world of LPs and if you have not checked that out, it really is a must!
1.) How did Beezer make her way into the world of limited partners?
2.) $27bn was raised by 137 funds in Q1 + Q2 of 2016, what does this mean for the theory that venture is a game of the have's and have nots? How does this compare to previous years?
3.) How is the constriction in capital affecting first-time funds? How many were raised so far this year? What were the common characteristics in those that were successful?
4.) How is the Series A market performing this year? Does the data agree with the common thesis of the rise of the late stage 'private IPO'? Does this lack of liquidity concern Beezer?
5.) Why is Beezer so bullish on the future ahead for tech? How does Beezer think Brexit will affect the wider market?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Episode:
Beezer’s Most Recent Investment: SaaStr Fund
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to me, Harry Stebbings, at H. Stebbings on Snapchat, and welcome back to another |
| 0:04.4 | week in the world of the 20-minute VC. Now, you might remember from a few months ago, we had the |
| 0:08.7 | fantastic Beezer Clarkson on the show from Sapphire Ventures. There, we heard her investment thesis, |
| 0:14.0 | what she looks for in a fund manager, and much more. And if you haven't heard that show, it really is a must. But the other day, Beezer and I were chatting about the stats and the data of the VC ecosystem. And we realized that this discussion and the |
| 0:25.4 | roundup of this stats and analysis would make a fantastic podcast. So stay Beza and I deep dive on |
| 0:31.0 | the data and discuss the implications of this data for VC. And I'm thrilled to say this will be |
| 0:35.4 | part of a series. Once a quarter, Beza will join me |
| 0:38.2 | and we will break down the latest funding activity and what it means for the players in the |
| 0:42.0 | ecosystem. I'm so excited for this going forward. And as for Beza, if you missed the last |
| 0:46.0 | episode, Beza is managing director at Sapphire Ventures, where she leads Sapphire's investments |
| 0:50.7 | in venture funds domestically and internationally. And prior to joining Sapphire, |
| 0:55.0 | Bisa managed day-to-day operations at DFJ's Global Network, which had $7 billion under management |
| 1:00.5 | across 16 venture funds worldwide. She also spent time at Omidyar Network, created by |
| 1:05.6 | eBay founder Pierre Omidy, Hewlett-Packard, and Morgan Stanley. And Beza also runs the incredible openlp.com, |
| 1:12.6 | the go-to place for LP articles and resources, which really is opening up the world of LPs. |
| 1:17.7 | And if you haven't checked that out, it really is a must. I also want to say huge thank you to |
| 1:21.4 | Beezer. What most of you don't know is that Beezer's been of incredible support and advice to me in my own journey, and I'm so grateful to her for that. |
| 1:28.9 | But before we dive into the data today, one of the keys to doing well in this game is communication, |
| 1:33.6 | and that's where Angel Loop come in. They're the experts in facilitating communication and |
| 1:37.7 | data sharing between companies and investors. On the platform, founders can track their performance |
| 1:42.2 | metrics and send out updates in real time to their |
| 1:44.8 | investors on the state of their business. In turn, those investors can then help their founders with |
... |
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