Hej Venturers,
Quick reminder: on June 15 at 9.15pm CET, we’re organizing online a Live Human Factor recording on “Learning from a human standpoint with the Venture Capitalists as a Y Combinator founder.” with
▪ Julien Berthomier, Co-Founder & CEO @ Station (YC W18) who will moderate the talk
▪ Thibaut Sahaghian, Co-Founder & CEO @ Multis (YC S19)
▪ Laurent Perrin, Co-Founder & CTO @ Front (YC S14)
▪ Robin Choy, Co-Founder & CEO @ HireSweet (YC W20)
We announced a few months back our new format «Human Factor», an audio-documentary shedding light on a Human-centric view of the Y Combinator experience. The high-level objective of Human Factor is to help you understand how to take advantage of situations of utmost intensity (with the example of YC) to become your better-self. We’re doing 4 live recordings with 15 YC founders that we will post-prod in a narrative format. It is a unique opportunity for you to directly talk to YC founders and participate to the production of Human Factor!
🎟 We’re opening up max 10 (free) seats to engage with the founders and if you’re selected, your name will be displayed in the “THANK YOU” section of the post-produced narrative format!
Last week was a real blast with the Runway Series Summit. I am still high! 39 guests, 13 talks, 3 days of high level convos..
For those of you who did not get your tickets, we’ve got your covered.
We’re pulling together the 13 audio replays + detailed shownotes in English 🇬🇧 in a separate & dedicated Substack.
With promo code OFFVN50 you get 50% off on the full & exclusive access to the audio replays including the detailed shownotes (€ 15 instead of € 29) for the 13 conferences.
But now let’s go to today’s agenda.
Understanding why & how Micro VC funds exist
Today there are 1,200 + Micro VC funds in the world, funds which are defined above all by their size (the capital to be deployed) typically less than US $ 100M but also by their investment stage (pre- seed & seed mainly).
With the emergence of solo-capitalists, operators-investors, platforms like AngelList, service providers like Assure or even "Nano VC" funds, I wanted to know more about the origins of this category of Micro VC investors , which has been around for 20+ years.
How to get started? How to continue? What interest for founders to raise with a Micro VC? Etc.
To understand everything about the birth of Micro VC funds, I received (in French) in the podcast Runway Series Originals the pioneer of this category for this 49th episode.
Jeff Clavier is undoubtedly the actor of this space who can speak about it with the most experience and granularity. Because Jeff, Founder & Managing Partner of Uncork Capital in the Valley has been a Micro VC pioneer since 2004.
French and established since 2000 in the Valley, Jeff has since made more than 250 investments such as Front, SendGrid, Postmates (now part of Uber), Poshmark, Fitbit (now part of Google), Eventbrite, first as "Super Angel" then with one of the very first Micro VC solo-GP institutional funds, SoftTech VC rebranded Uncork for a few years back with the arrival of Partners.
In this fantastic episode which is a deep dive into the world of Micro VC in the Valley, Jeff looks back on
🔥 His background, his desire to settle in the US and what allowed him to have a “Super Angel” dealflow and a notoriety established very quickly
🔥 The value of launching an Angel / VC hybrid investment style
🔥 How he was one of the trailblazers in the Valley in such a space
🔥 The rebranding from SoftTech VC to Uncork and the message given to the ecosystem
🔥 Why and how he does not miss any deal he wants to make
🔥 The importance of transparency, the essential challenge he encounters in the early stage and the questions he likes that founders ask VCs.
I really thank Jeff and I am sure you will love this episode. Enjoy the episode !Do you want the detailed shownotes in French?
Let us know by replying to this email and we will add you to a private Notion page.
Do you want to know more in a Live Format with Jeff about Micro VC?
Let us know by replying to this email and we will see when we can set up such a direct discussion.
That’s all for today, speak soon!
Raph, Founder @ UPCOMINGVC®
