Practical Ways to Effectively Manage Relationships with Your VC (with Henry Asseily)
I'm interviewing former founder and VC Henri Asseily. He was the founder of Bizrate.com/Shopzilla, acting as CTO until its sale in 2005 for US$569 million.
The better your company performs, the longer honeymoon with your VCs lasts.
Then the inevitable conflict arises. You deal with it by planning for it.
You plan for it before VCs invest.
Before a raise you prepare your company for capital injection. You do whatever you need to almost hire people. You have a marketing campaign planned out, ready to go.
Once they money arrive you trigger a series of quick wins.
You execute what you have control over: marketing, hiring, product development.
If you do it right, you score wins. VCs see you as capable.
When a big obstacle shows up (aka COVID lockdown) and you need to pivot there’s a much higher chance VCs will agree with you.
Because you were executing like crazy.
Effective management of VC relationships is about thinking and planning ahead of time and having a series of quick wins so they trust you.
About the guest:
Henry previously launched Leap Ventures, an entrepreneur-led Venture Capital firm based out of Beirut and Dubai.
Has 20 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur focused on internet-related businesses and has particular expertise in relation to algorithmics and computer science. He was the founder of Bizrate.com/Shopzilla, acting as CTO until its sale in 2005 for US$569 million.
Here’s what you’ll hear about in this conversation:
- How do you manage relationships with your VC effectively and proactively
- Why Henry went back to being a founder after being a successful VC
- Advice to founders who will be raising money in the next 6 months
- How Silicon Valley investors differ from other countries
Then the inevitable conflict arises. You deal with it by planning for it.
You plan for it before VCs invest.
Before a raise you prepare your company for capital injection. You do whatever you need to almost hire people. You have a marketing campaign planned out, ready to go.
Once they money arrive you trigger a series of quick wins.
You execute what you have control over: marketing, hiring, product development.
If you do it right, you score wins. VCs see you as capable.
When a big obstacle shows up (aka COVID lockdown) and you need to pivot there’s a much higher chance VCs will agree with you.
Because you were executing like crazy.
Effective management of VC relationships is about thinking and planning ahead of time and having a series of quick wins so they trust you.
About the guest:
Henry previously launched Leap Ventures, an entrepreneur-led Venture Capital firm based out of Beirut and Dubai.
Has 20 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur focused on internet-related businesses and has particular expertise in relation to algorithmics and computer science. He was the founder of Bizrate.com/Shopzilla, acting as CTO until its sale in 2005 for US$569 million.
Here’s what you’ll hear about in this conversation:
- How do you manage relationships with your VC effectively and proactively
- Why Henry went back to being a founder after being a successful VC
- Advice to founders who will be raising money in the next 6 months
- How Silicon Valley investors differ from other countries
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