James Fabricant

TLDR: EIS should be scrapped as a fund structure but retained for Angel investments by individuals. Alex Chalmers has done all the work which in 10 years I've never got around to doing: why 95% of EIS/VCT funds are bad for our tech ecosystem, rip #startups off, and why as a Founder you should push back against their stupid fees or not take their money. https://lnkd.in/dnq9ZScS

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By accident, I re-watched a couple of episodes of Silicon Valley over the weekend. It premiered in 2014 and is still a perfect introduction to the crazy world of startups and venture capital. Anyone in the ecosystem can recognize themselves and/or all the weird characters occupying this space. Watching all six seasons should be mandatory before starting or investing in a tech company. It’s mind-boggling how the creators managed to showcase futuristic elements like self-driving cars, AI, robots, and VR headsets, even before they became mainstream topics of discussion. It’s only the bubble content that changes, not the actual way the bubble is inflating… Movie nerd comment: It would be fun to see someone use the Silicon Valley characters the same way Lemon uses the Thomas the Tank Engine characters in Bullet Train! https://lnkd.in/dsGqTRA3 #siliconvalley #startups #VC #techbubble #buzzwords #piedpiper

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Scoop: Podcaster and VC Harry Stebbings is raising a major new 20VC fund to target tech startups globally. Building on 2021’s $140 million fund, 20VC is believed to be bringing in around $400 million from LPs across investment vehicles targeting the early and late stage. Stebbings is hiring in new talent to help build out the fund’s investment portfolio. Previous 20VC investments include Remote, Hopin, Sorare and BeReal. You can read more in my latest for Business Insider: https://lnkd.in/eTDufTQF #vc #ai #fund #20VC #tech #startups

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"In the hierarchy of warm intros, if you can get through an investor's portfolio founder, that is probably the most warm referral that an investor can take". Anthony Joyce-Rivera, founder of Vokamancy and I were talking about EasyVC and shared this great piece with me from Underscore VC's podcast, Startup Secrets, with their General Partner Lily Lyman talking about a golden nugget that took me years of fundraising to learn: Aim for warm intros. Fundraising is about a numbers game and building trust. 1) A Numbers Game: As Lily mentions, you need to build a list of +50 investors that you have to target for your funding round to start. This means you'll get many No's until that "Yes". 2) Build Trust: Investors get 100 cold emails a day from founders telling them they're the next Steve Jobs. YOU need to stand out, and that comes from working on your network. At EasyVC, 1) Our AI builds a short list of investors for you based on your startup description so you don't have to do the heavy lifting ✅, and 2) Every investor in the platform has a list with all their portfolio founders, and their contact info, so you can connect with them and get warm intros✅. Forget about magic wands and intermediaries promising you a VC deal. Work on your network. #fundraising #venturecapital #entrepreneurship #startup

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AI Viability Tracker - update This is an exciting time for all of us. The AI market continues to both fascinate and terrify most in equal measure. We've decided to fully embrace it. Our UK AI partners are building our viability tracker; this will simplify and streamline our process massively. How about you? Are you embracing it yet?

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It was a pleasure to be on Rupert McSheehy's podcast Fireside with Founders and Leaders. Thanks again for having me! We talked about 📈 key metrics for Series A, 🌍 how to expand internationally and 🚀 the benefits of an evergreen fund structure. More here 👉 https://lnkd.in/e_aeQp7K #VentureCapital #Startups #Scaleups #GrowthJourney #Podcast

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Understanding AppLovin In the latest episode of the Mobile Dev Memo podcast, I present a long-form analysis of AppLovin's business and its significant recent growth. But understanding AppLovin the company is fundamentally predicated on understanding the market in which it operates, mobile games advertising, and the direct response digital advertising landscape more broadly. And so the podcast is structured in three parts: - Understanding direct response advertising - Understanding mobile gaming advertising - Understanding AppLovin’s growth Link below.

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A quick sanity-check to separate the two: do all the studio shareholders have the same expectations when it comes to liquidity and returns timeline? If yes: the studio is company-creating in harmony with its startup cofounders and follow-on investors. If no: decisions go from positive-sum to zero-sum and value creation suffers.

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Cambridge Future Tech builds DeepTech ventures and last week we hit another milestone; we're co-founding our 15th venture 🤘 It's awesome building new ventures from the ground up. It's why we started CFT in the first place. It always feels great to be at the start of the build phase, helping founders articulate a new venture’s tech and potential, building a strong narrative. We’re collaborating closely with founders to transform groundbreaking ideas into companies. 🚀🚀🚀 More to come on this. I'm hyped to share what we're building 🤘 #venturebuilder #deeptech #startups #cambridge

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Dan Primack had some pointed criticism for #VC yesterday in his Axios Pro Rata newsletter (a daily must read IMO 😤). In short, the model doesn't work if it can't produce exits for LPs. Don't blame public markets (which are at all-time highs) for the lack of liquidity either. 📈 💸 Instead, this is a "liquidity drought of your making" where "...swinging for the fences on every pitch, rather than taking the single or double that's available" is the only way out when you invest at "sky high valuations." 😰 "A whopping 37% of "unicorns" are being held for at least nine years by VC funds, including 13% that are past the 12-year mark." 😳 ⌛ Is he right? Is VC at a dire inflection point? Or is Primack prematurely hitting the panic button? 🚨 https://lnkd.in/dts92pXr

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Liquidity or exit planning is often taboo leading to many companies being ill prepared. Successful outcomes are years in the making - they start and end with proactive prep (e.g. getting your house in order, developing strong relationships with strategic partners, potential investors and advisors). With Scott Colvin & Paul Perrett we lay out some key actions you should embed now that can set you up for exit success and also make you a better run business today Big thanks to Bree Fedele 🖋

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This month marks my 10 year anniversary in Venture, and what a ten years it has been 🎉 🤩 First stop: JamJar Investments Rewind 10 years and you’ll find me sitting at my desk at JamJar, operating under the alias of “Bread”, working my way through an inbox full of 1000 cold inbound pitch decks, reviewing and replying to every single one. Highlights included a hand drawn picture of a new ketchup sachet design with “target market: Nandos” written below it, and a concept for a drink that tasted like the leftover milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl. But there were also some diamonds in the rough, and it was here that I got my first experience of that lightbulb moment when you meet an exceptional founder that you want to back, making my first investment a few months in. JamJar was the best training ground I could have hoped for, and I'm so grateful to Katie Marrache and Adam Balon, Richard Reed & Jonathan Wright for welcoming me into the team. Second stop: Venrex In 2015, I joined Mark & Tom at Venrex alongside Pooja Patel. We clicked as a team immediately, and over the ensuing years launched 7 new funds, grew the portfolio to 180+ companies, built a brilliant team, moved from a small attic in West London to panoramic views in Fitzrovia, and had a lot of fun along the way. As well as the buzz of discovering new founders to back, I also discovered my love for supporting founders post-investment. With 11 board roles and a further 16 portfolio companies to support, the ex-strategy consultant in me had just enough to get my teeth into. Venrex’s people-centric and pragmatic approach to investing chimed with my own instincts about the type of investor I wanted to be. They gave me the most incredible platform to grow as an investor and roll up my sleeves with all of the operational sides of running a venture fund. To the entire Venrex team, new and old, thank you for an amazing chapter. Third stop: Circle & Co In June, I left Venrex to launch my own Venture fund, Circle & Co, which is on track for its first close next month. It's by total chance that this milestone falls on my 10th anniversary in venture, but what an incredible way to kick off the next decade. More details on the fund to follow, but for the moment I want to thank the amazing network of friends, fellow VCs, founders, LPs and family who have got me this far. You are the original Circle, and have been the inspiration & driving force behind this next step. Let's make it a good one.

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Balderton's €1.3bn raise for European startups sparks debate: Does a bigger VC fund lead to better outcomes? First, consider: 💲 Larger rounds demand bigger funds, but returns get harder at scale 💲 $100M fund needs $1bn exit at 10% ownership for a single 1x return 💲 Most early-stage VCs target 3x returns, investing in 30+ companies 💲Management fees (typically 2%) grow with fund size Plus, the current landscape: Giants like Balderton, Index, and Accel are raising massive funds, while smaller firms stick to sub-$200M and focus on early-stage startups. Many VCs have maintained their previous fund sizes, while others are downsizing or struggling to raise new funds (or even returning un-invested capital to investors, as CRV recently announced they will do). Thus, weigh up the trade-offs: Larger funds (≥$500M): 📈 More firepower, full-cycle support 📉 Risk: Pressure to deploy capital, potentially lower returns Smaller funds (≤$200M): 🔍Agility, focused support, higher potential multiples ❌ Limited late-stage participation The future of European VC may not be one-size-fits-all. As the ecosystem matures, perhaps there's room for both Davids and Goliaths. What's your take? Would you bet on a nimble $150M fund or the muscle of a €1B+ vehicle? Source: Sifted #EuropeanVC #FundStrategy #StartupInvesting PS 🔔 Follow me for strategies and resources for startups and VCs! There's a better, streamlined way to raise capital: 💸https://foundersuite.com/ for startups 💸https://fundingstack.com/ for VCs and investors

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Statistically, you don't know if a fund is good until after six years. Most companies don't go public until at least ten years, with few exceptions. LPs now want a 3x DPI strong track record. They often overlook the founder's experience and focus on brand. If I would invest as an LP (I focus 100% of my time on direct investments), I would want someone who's been through it all—former founders, operators, investors—the type Elad Gil was years ago—or pure grit. Someone who loves the founders, not the co-investors. Someone with conviction, not ego. Someone willing to say no, even when it's not popular. I want someone who knows that money doesn't matter as much after a certain point. You've got a place to sleep and holidays. Happiness comes from a house full of love, passion, and good health. It has to be earned. That's why their purpose in VC should be to serve others, especially the founders. I want to invest in the real deal—Floyd Mayweather himself. Not someone who worked with him and claims, along with five others, to have been part of a win. And if you're not Floyd Mayweather, I'll find the next one who's just getting started—Muhammad Ali when he was found guilty. You need to be able to identify the best GPs before they run Fund 6 with a team of 50. It’s just like spotting great founders. As an investor, as an LP, you must have faith, believe in the vision, and trust the ones who stand out from the crowd. Everyone talks about wanting something different, but few do it—few invest in it. That’s why we have visionary founders, and we need more GPs like them, along with LPs willing to back their visions. I'm looking for small funds, under $50M. First 1-3 fund vintages. Former founders and VCs. Compassionate. Driven by service. Network-focused. They understand community. They've got high conviction, non-consensus thinking, and are all-in for the founders. Not driven by FOMO. They do it with love, grit, and persistence. They love the work because the founders' success is their success. AUM doesn't matter. The moment does. The connection does. Speaking the truth. Real values. Committed for life. Even at 80 years old, checking in with founders once a week. "How are you doing? Are you healthy? Eating broccoli? Meditating? Loving your family? Taking care of yourself?" That's the relationship we should have with founders. And it's the same relationship LPs should have with their GPs. The GPs I invest in are hustlers. It's hard work. They love it. Give money to the right people, and they'll return it. You'll know in time. Until then, have fun. Enjoy life. Happy Sunday, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.

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Just a random thought: A few weeks ago I was in a group of US-based emerging VCs and this person - whom I'm always delighted to have a chat with, asked why there were more minority GPs in the group than the typical and archetype GPs (if you know what I mean). I told him that I didn't have an answer to the question because I wasn't part of the selection process - which was supposed to purely be based on their performance. But in the back of my head was another question: if most of the GPs in the group are of the similar background - e.g., 90%+ of them went to Stanford, Harvard, MIT, etc and they all had a previous career at other VC shops, does the skin color really matter? When they all came from similar paths in their lives, does more skin colors really make the VC ecosystem more diverse? I'm all for having more colors in the VC ecosystem - I'm +1 of that color anyway, but at the same time I just think truly diversifying the VC universe takes more than just adding more colors.

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