Unicorns & Masters - Wait ! What?
Helping Startups becoming Unicorn and Global Enterprise
Life should not be boring at all. Ever since I started a VC/PE firm, it has been an amazing ride. Most exciting part of this journey has been learning from founders whom I talk to on a daily/monthly basis. From a VC/PE standpoint, we have many more milestones that need to be achieved by 2030. One of the milestones is investing in unicorns and taking one of our portfolio companies to Nasdaq.
As per the conventional route, many big VC firms (a16Z, Sequoia etc.) generally do not go along with other early stage VCs because of the investment focus and other preferences. Most recently, I was disappointed with Growth Stage Investors as they did not let us invest along with them because of our check size and few other factors. In addition, they thought we are just a two year old VC/PE firm and we do not have a 10 digit fund. Well, it is ok to have this kind of disappointment but it is not the end of the world for us. Also, they can say whatever they prefer to say. If they do not let us in anyway, we will find our way (highway).
We have learned that startups frequently become well established before going public, and investor competition for deals has greatly increased.
Unicorns & Masters is the answer to solve this challenging problem we have on our end. We will be creating a platform and ecosystem where many big VC/PE firms would see our work as meaningful and noticeable. They have to keep in mind that growth capital is not only the instrument startup founders are looking for. VC space is changing so fast. Three times as many rounds of financing are taking place across all sectors, and they're taking place extremely quickly, before private companies go public. Also, the value of IPOs has increased significantly as more private capital has gone into late-stage companies, more than doubling from 2018 to 2021. Interestingly, we see the pattern and consumerization of private equities will emerge as a solution with a faster rate within this space. We are taking an initiative where we will help growth stage startups become unicorns and follow the path to becoming a global enterprise. Wealth can be distributed and get more diversified.
“We will do small things in a great way with an outstanding GTM approach”.
Again, the VC/PE landscape is changing and it is the time for the growth stage investors to realize it. Big VC firms should NOT be limited to only Sand Hill Road. We need diversity within the growth stage ventures. In addition, the areas where wealth is created are spreading. We also need more dynamic and younger people on the board. I’d love to have these great human being join the force - Stephanie Cohen, Jon Korngold, Bill Borden, Andy Kalbaugh, Ilya Strebulaev, Alex Edmans, Baba Shiv, Sara Beckman, Hal Gregersen, Matthew Kressy, Rita McGrath, Diamond Richardson, Niclas Holmberg, John Startin, Himanshu Bajaj, Jonathan Anscombe, Madhu Muthukumar, Vala Afshar, Ashwini Zenooz, MD, Arun Pattabhiraman, Prakash Ramamurthy, Chandar Pattabhiram, Urvashi Tyagi, Craig Lemasters, Craig Walker, Felix Van de Maele, Stijn (Stan) Christiaens, John Shaw, Cindi Howson, Eva Murray, Katia Walsh, Ph.D. Jason Downing, Jane Barratt, Benny Joseph, Michael Watson, Scott Richard, Ruby Walia, Prof. Dr. Björn Michaelis and many others.
I’ll be the first member and advisor to many unicorn companies we will be working with. Companies to be announced soon. It will be in their interest to join us because we will be providing value in a magical way. More importantly, forces will be with us and they will realize the power of magic and the global community.
People who are in my network are familiar with the P/S/R Framework I generally apply when having 1:1 introductory call with founders. For the people who are curious enough about what and why, here is add’l info.
Problem: For early stage VCs, it is hard to enter at the growth stage. 80% of growth stage VCs do not entertain the idea of having early stage VCs. In addition, Startups need advice for Scalability and Network.
Solution: Consumerizing the Private Markets. Unicorns & Masters by Barclay Street Ventures would be a catalyst and trigger point.
Results: Startups become unicorns through our wisdoms and network. Unicorns become global enterprise (While embarking on this journey, Barclay Street gets an opportunity to invest along with the growth stage investors)
As we come across many startups, I’m sure there will be few startups which will allow us to invest along with other Growth Stage Investors. Here is our wish list of companies we would like to partner with during the first phase.
Waymo | Autonomous Vehicles
Stripe | Payment Processing
Instacart | Grocery Delivery
BYJU's | Educational Technology
Ripple | Crypto and Blockchain
Notion Labs | Collaboration Service
Airtable | Collaboration Service
Scale AI | The Data Platform for AI
ThoughtSpot | Search & AI-Driven Analytics
Olive | Healthcare AI
Owkin | Drug Discovery
PandaDoc | Document Management
Life is beautiful when outlook is changed. Live it boldly, do good.
May the force be with you - Unicorns & Masters