1/ VC’s fundraising : credible vs. fundable. It took me a good ten years to move from first investments to emerging track record and another three to show significant liquidity.
2/ first exit was @dailymotion. Backed 2006, exited 2011. A highly publicised exit in France but really an incredible survival story against YouTube and a sub 3X exit for investors (and little liquidity for founders)
@dailymotion 3/ my first investment for Atlas was a bust - my second took 10 years to 3X 😬
@dailymotion 4/ my first “big hit” was zoopla - seeded 2004, IPO 2014, led every round 😎
@dailymotion 5/ liquidity really only blew up this year (@pillpack, @integralads) and remaining portfolio looks good (deliveroo, Secretescapes, carwow, currencycloud)
@dailymotion @PillPack @integralads 6/ so let this sink in - started at atlas 2004, left 2014, took until 2018 to cross 3X cash back and 5X TVPI - loooooong timeframes. Hitting 25%+ IRR reliably over long periods of time is HARD.
@dailymotion @PillPack @integralads 7/ I feel I got better over time as I stopped thinking i was smarter than the market and purified my thinking patterns - but when the veterans say it takes a long time to know if you’re a decent VC they ain’t lying 😂
