20VC: Optimising Investment Decision-Making in Compressed Fundraising Timelines & A Deep Dive on Portfolio Construction, Price Sensitivity and The Importance of Ownership with Mark Mullen, Co-Founder @ Bonfire Ventures

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2021

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mark Mullen is the Co-Founder of Bonfire Ventures, one of LA's leading early-stage funds, now on their 3rd Fund with $101M in the latest. In the past, Mark has invested in the likes of Trade Desk, Scopely, GOAT, ChowNow, Niantic and Pendo to name a few. Prior to co-founding Bonfire, Mark was a solo GP with Double M and then through Mull Capital, Mark is also an LP in other funds investing in 15 including the likes of Upfront, Freestyle, Backstage and Crosscut to name a few.

In Today’s Episode with Mark Mullen You Will Learn:

1.) How Mark made his way into the world of venture, came to found Double M and why he decided he wanted to co-found Bonfire and be in a partnership, not a solo GP model?

2.) Portfolio Construction: With the new fund, how did Mark think about the right portfolio construction? What is the right level of diversification? How many lines should be in the portfolio? How important is ownership today? Is it possible to build ownership in your best companies over time? How does Mark think about proactive reserve allocation today?

3.) Investment Decision-Making: How does Mark think about the right investment decision-making structure with Bonfire today? How can one retain speed but also increase the number of decision-makers? How does Mark feel about the compression of fundraising timelines today? What advice does Mark give to founders when selecting their cap table?

4.) Boards and Time: How does Mark evaluate his own style of board membership? How has it changed over time? What do the best do on boards that makes them so great? How does Mark think about time allocation across the portfolio? Should you only spend time with winners? What have been some of his biggest lessons from this?

Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode with Mark Mullen

Mark’s Favourite Book: Undaunted Courage

Mark’s Most Recent Investment: Topia

As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!

Transcript

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0:00.0	So this guest I was first introduced to way back in 2016 as a person I must have on the podcast.
0:05.5	Now, it only took five years to make it happen, but my word, it was worth the wait.
0:09.0	And this hits all of my venture nerd passion points in terms of the discussion we had today.
0:13.6	And so I'm thrilled to welcome Mark Mullen, co-founder and managing partner at Bonfire Ventures,
0:18.0	one of LA's leading early stage funds now on their third fund,
0:21.4	with $101 million in the latest. And in the past, Mark has invested in the likes of the trade
0:26.1	desk, Scopely, Goat, Chow Now, Neantic and Pendo, to name a few. And prior to co-founding Bonfire,
0:32.7	Mark was a solo GP with Double M. And then through Mull Capital, Mark's also an LP in other funds, investing in
0:38.7	15, including in the likes of upfront, freestyle, backstage and crosscut, to name a few.
0:44.2	And I'd also want to say a huge thank you to Greg Grett Upfront, Howard Linsen, Mark at Greycroft,
0:48.6	and Jim Andleman for some amazing questions yesterday. Honestly, it made my life a lot easier
0:53.3	and a brilliant schedule.
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	...

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