Watching a Venture Fund at Work

This podcast is sponsored by:

The CFA Institute. The CFA Institute is the global association of investment professionals whose mission is to lead the investment profession by promoting the highest standards of ethics, education, and professional excellence for the ultimate benefit of society. CFA Institute serves a global community of investment professionals working to build an investment industry where investors' interests come first, financial markets function at their best, and economies grow. The Chartered Financial Analyst credential is the most respected and recognized investment management designation in the world. The views expressed in this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of the CFA Institute.

[00:02:28] – Start by exploring Lauren’s background and how that impacts her world view.

[00:05:11] – Does Lauren have a specialty in sustainability, clean-energy, clean-technology investments because of her interest or location.

[00:06:15] – Kanyi goes through his background

[00:07:51] – Kanyi talks about his parents coming to this country as a refugee and why education is so important to him

[00:09:02] – How education is an important theme to Collaborative Fund

[00:09:49] – Exploring a day in the life of a venture capitalist

[00:12:21] – How do venture capitalists look at valuation

[00:15:45] – Craig says the market helps to drive valuation

[00:19:26] – The impact of high valuations early on for both successful and non-successful companies

[00:20:33] – How do you know when a company is worthy

[00:21:14] – Brand is a huge part

[00:23:45] – Some of the factors that helped them invest in a company and what gave them the edge

[00:24:31] – Lauren talks about one of her recent interests – Osmo – a kids toy company

[00:28:02] – How does competition play into their decisions

[00:33:39] – Kanyi talks about one of his recent investments and how we went about it.

[00:35:18] – Exploring the pre-product market fit

[00:37:28] – Rapid learning is important to venture, but it’s also something they look for in potential investment targets

[00:40:19] – Advice for any entrepreneurs/founders

[00:45:05] – What are the dimensions of a brand that make it so important to a company

[00:50:00] – Looking at Lauren and Kanyi’s most memorable day.  (You can find Craig’s in his previous episode)

[00:55:03] – What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for Lauren and Kanyi

[00:57:58] – A look at a research paper discussing the declines in IPO’s and the fact that there is about half as many publicly traded companies as there were several decades ago. (BONUS SEGMENT)

[01:01:47] – Is the IPO process and liquidity a necessary step in a company’s life cycle

[01:04:55] – A look at The Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE) and how it could help the market for publicly traded companies