As venture capital investors we are privileged to work with some of the smartest brains and operators around. That said, most young, growing companies have shortcomings; due to immaturity, lack of time, lack of resources and networks. An integral part of our investment process is assessing these shortcomings and working out how we as a firm can best guide and support company and entrepreneur. We call it Activist Ventures.

This is an important part of our investment thesis. We are of the belief that you cannot be an early-stage venture investor if you are ‘hands off’. Whatever the situation is, whether there are problem scenarios or if the company is going through fast growth – we like to be able to assist and contribute towards the growth journey of the company and entrepreneur.

How do we assist the entrepreneurs on their ambitious growth journey? Firstly, we look to build partnerships with the portfolio companies. We are very clear from the outset that we are there to help, to create optionality and opportunities, but that the company is free to decide and determine how to make use of this. Support comes in the shape of business development, governance support, recruiting issues, best practice reporting, M&A assistance etc. This support is increasingly more important as we operate in ‘choppy’ markets.

The bottom line is that through our activist mindset, we can add value over and above our capital contribution, as well as actively supporting the entrepreneur on their growth journey.

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