The Importance of Vetting Market Potential and Team Dynamics as a VC

How involved do you typically become with companies you invest in?

For many companies, I will join the board as a full member or an advisor. I work closely with the CEOs and founders from the earliest stages as they grow their companies, often serving as a sounding board for key decisions around funding and business strategy, recruiting and developing their teams, and providing market context based on what we are seeing across our portfolio of companies.

Particularly in challenging macroeconomic environments like the past year, my experience investing in venture-backed companies for over 25 years and across multiple down cycles is often helpful context as the amazing startup executives navigate growth during turbulent times.

How do you identify startups to invest in?

At Acrew, we take a thesis-driven approach when evaluating new investment opportunities, focusing our investments in three core thesis areas: data and security, fintech, and consumer networks. We internally identify technology and business disruptors and proactively seek out companies and founders in that space. Once identified, we determine if this is the right team in place to solve this particular problem.

What are key things you look for when researching potential companies?

The first step for me is identifying market potential — is there a large enough market to support this product or service? I also look at how the team engages and works together. Are there underlying frictions or misalignments?

What is an inspiring trend you have seen recently as a VC?

Currently, as you know, everyone is talking about artificial intelligence and large language models (LLMs). Since our first investments, we have been exploring the precursor to AI, applying machine learning to our core thesis areas. Our first Series A investment in 2014 was a company that applies machine learning to security data. As the company has grown to be a leader in the security information and event management space, their platform is now a full AI-driven security operations platform serving hundreds of enterprises.

What is a common challenge you often help your portfolio companies navigate and how do you help guide them through it?

Recently, I’ve been working closely with my founders to navigate current macroeconomic challenges, such as interest rates and geopolitics. I ensure we are collaborating over an aligned vision based on trust and transparency, so we can tap into each other’s strengths during market shifts and uncertainty.