20VC: Why Growth Investors Ruined the Venture Market, Why Marketing in Venture Has No Substance, Why Follow-On Investing Can Damage Returns and The Mistakes VCs Made in the Last 18 Months with Ophelia Brown, Founder @ Blossom Capital

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

🗓️ 17 March 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ophelia Brown is the Founder of Blossom Capital, one of Europe's newest but leading early-stage venture firms. Ophelia and the Blossom team have invested in stand-outs including Checkout, Duffel, Tines, and Moonpay. Prior to Blossom, Ophelia was a GP at LocalGlobe and a Principal at Index Ventures where her investments included Robinhood and Typeform.

In Today's Episode with Ophelia Brown We Discuss:

1.) From Restaurant-Owning DJ to Leading European VC:

How Ophelia made her way into the world of venture and came to found Blossom?
What does Ophelia know now that she wishes she had known when she entered venture?
What does Ophelia feel she is running away from?

2.) Venture Capital: The Market:

Why does Ophelia believe the best venture firms focus either by stage/theme/geography?
Why does Ophelia believe that marketing in venture has no substance? How can founders determine between what is real and what is false?
Why does Ophelia believe that growth investors have ruined the venture market?
When does Ophelia believe VCs will realise that FOMO investing is not a good strategy?

3.) Ophelia Brown: The Investor and Fund Manager:

What has been Ophelia's biggest investing mistake? How did it change her mindset and approach?
In a world where everyone does seed investing, why does Ophelia not?
How was raising the first Blossom fund? What were some of her biggest lessons?
Why does Ophelia believe that follow-on investing can damage returns?
How does Ophelia reflect on her own relationship to price? When has she paid up and it worked? When has she paid up and it not worked?
Does Ophelia think it is fair that many find her curt and abrasive to work with?

4.) Europe: Is Now Really The Right Time?

What would Ophelia like to see change in the way European VCs act?
If Ophelia could invest in one seed firm, one Series A firm and one growth firm in Europe, what would they be? Why?
What are 1-2 of the biggest barriers Europe must overcome in the next 5 years?

Transcript

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0:00.0	I think actually the follow-on can really damage fund returns.
0:03.3	You should buy your ownership at the lowest possible cost.
0:07.5	And then especially in the growth market that we've been on,
0:09.8	where the follow-on is done at 4-5x.
0:12.7	So your initial cost was 5 or 10 million,
0:15.3	and you were spending an additional 5 or more in pro rata,
0:18.7	but at a much higher valuation.
0:20.4	Then your blended average suddenly looks a lot worse than having justata, but at a much higher valuation, then your blended average
0:21.6	suddenly looks a lot worse than having just bought your ownership at a lower cost.
0:25.1	I am so excited for today's episode with Aphelia Brown, one of the hardest working and most
0:28.9	tenacious people in venture. In just a few short years, Aphelia has scaled blossom from the
0:33.5	new fund on the block to one of Europe's leading Series A firms with a $475
0:38.3	million latest fund to boot, some of Ophelia's breakout investments include checkout,
0:43.3	Duffel, Tynes and Moon Pay.
0:45.3	And prior to Blossom, Ophelia was a GP at Local Globe and a principal at Index Vanchors,
0:49.3	where her investments included Robin Hoodin type form.
0:52.3	But before we dive into the show's day, Coda is the dock where teams can work on entire
0:57.0	projects from start to finish with everything they need all in one place.
1:00.9	Think about the way your team works today.
1:02.8	All the work is spread across a variety of different documents, spreadsheets and a stack
1:06.9	of workflow tools.
1:08.3	It's really tough to focus on getting things done, let alone getting
	...

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