What is Venture Capital?
Venture capital is "providing financing and company building skills to start-up operations with the goal of developing companies into substantial, profitable enterprises." The venture capital industry invests in start-up businesses with huge risk and little to no proven track records as well as growing businesses that need help in any number of areas like continued branding, international expansion, or one that needs assistance in order to reach further milestones. In venture capital, when an investment is made in a company, it is an equity investment in a company whose stock is essentially illiquid and worthless until a company matures, five to eight years down the road. But, unless a company is acquired or goes public, there is little actual value.
Companies funded by venture capital have become the most valuable companies in the world--in fact, the top five companies by market cap in the S&P 500--the "so-called Big Five" all started as venture backed startups. Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Google. Both Apple and Amazon started as VC-backed businesses and became the first publicly listed companies to reach one trillion in valuation. These businesses began because venture capitalists and angel investors invested in visionary founders who were talented at business building.
Who are the main players in Venture Capital?
Venture capital is an ecosystem with three main players: Entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists (VCs), and Limited Partners (LPs).
Entrepreneurs:
Start and manage companies on a day-to-day basis
Generally raise funds to support and grow the company in multiple rounds starting with their own money and followed by a friends and family round.
Often times, successful entrepreneurs end up participating as angel investors or in venture capital to support other entrepreneurs.
Venture Capitalists (VCs):
Finance entrepreneurs through funds and syndications.
Make important decisions about when to make an investment and when to exit an investment.
Work closely with the companies in which they invest, such as providing strategic advice and making connections.
Invest in private companies in the hopes of seeing sizable returns down the road if the company is acquired or goes public.
To increase their chances of seeing a big time return, VCs aim to have a diversified portfolio of venture investments.
VCs can come from many different backgrounds and be successful--for example Mike Moritz (VC at Sequoia) has a background in journalism, Bill Gurley (VC at Benchmark) has a background as a Wall Street research analyst, and Marc Andreesen (VC at Andreesen Horowitz or A16Z) has a background as a software engineer and an entrepreneur.
Key to a successful VC is to be able to source and access highly competitive deals, manage investments, and eventually make money persistently by investing as a venture capitalist.
The VC firm serves as the General Partner (GP) of the fund.
The GP is liable for the actions of the partnership (fund).
Most VCs charge a management fee of 2% for administrative costs of running the fund and a 20% carry fee (carried interest) for doing all of the work and sourcing the deals. This carried interest only applies when a profit is made from the investment--if the investment isn't profitable then there isn't any carried interest. It effectively aligns the VC's interests with that of the LP.
Limited Partners (LPs):
People and institutions that invest into VC funds.
The term "limited" refers to the facts that LPs have limited liability when investing into a VC fund. It is best for the LP to defer to the VCs who manage the day-to-day operations of the VC firm as being too involved can change the legal liability status of a limited partner.
There are several types of LPs including:
Banks: can have dedicated teams that invest in venture capital funds, usually through an investment division at the bank or through affiliated wealth managers.
Family Office: private wealth management advisors that serve a single family or ultra-high net worth individual (someone with at least $30 million to invest).
Fund-of-Funds: basically, as the name suggests, is a fund to invest in other investment funds
Foundation: a non-governmental, non-profit organization that is tax-exempt and is backed by donors to support charitable efforts.
High Net Worth Individual: an accredited investor.
Multi-family Offices: private wealth management advisors that serve more than one ultra-high net worth family.
Pension Fund: corporate pensions, public pensions, and other types of pensions (total value of all US pension funds is in the trillions of dollars).
Sovereign Wealth Fund: a state-owned investment fund that can invest in alternate assets such as venture capital.
Venture Capital funds: sometimes VCs invest into other VC fundsWhy do Limited Partners (LPs) invest in Venture Capitalists (VCs)?
Why do Limited Partners (LPs) invest in Venture Capital (VC) funds?
The most obvious answer is LPs are looking to invest capital and make a return on their investment. Venture capital has traditionally been an attractive investment because of high returns for investors over a longer period of time. If an LP invests in a great performing VC fund, the LP can get a significant return that they otherwise would not have been able to get through other asset classes. Historical data shows that investing in venture capital will beat public markets by about 5-15% over a 20 year period and that the time from initial investment to exit (when a company is acquired or goes public via IPO/SPAC) is typically between five and eight years.
Ultimately, the big question is "How will you as an investor make money?" To do so, a VC must have an investment strategy that is defensible, durable, and repeatable. The VC must also have a competitive edge that gives them an advantage over other venture capitalists to source, pick, and win the best venture capital deals. AG Collective Capital has this taken care of. As a leader in the field with a tight network allowing access to deals that are difficult to come by and access to the founders of private companies, we have that advantage and we would love to extend these opportunities to you for you to be a part of this with us.
If you like what you have learned above and you want to take the next step and be a part of this with us, please reach out to me and we can discuss further and answer any questions or concerns that you may have.
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