Experiences with Capital Q Ventures? | Suspicious Opportunity?
Wondering if anyone has experience with this firm. From communications, he described it as:
"Associates build their practices similar to an attorney, accountant, real estate broker or other professional. While we have a tremendous amount of deal-flow, generally Venture Capital Associates are compensated on a deal by deal basis.
For you to make $100K per year, ... you would only need to sign-up 2 to 3 projects per month, these are Entrepreneurs who are seeking Venture Capital funding, who you will manage them through the qualification and deal team approval process."
Suspicious is putting it nicely. Wouldn't go near something like this with a 10 foot pole. At best, it's a wannabe VC, at worst, it's a misleading offer?
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If you spent any time on this forum at all you would know I'm far more than that. I've been an institutional VC for the past dozen years at 3 legit firms (a Tier 1 Sand Hill fund, a Tier 1 spinout where I was a founding investor, and now a founding GP). I've led dozens of deals, a handful of which are public now and many of which you would recognize. Your "fund" is a spectacle in the industry. 80% of real VCs haven't heard of you. The remaining 20% want nothing to do with you.
Major red flags for anyone who's seriously considering applying for this:
1) A BDC fund isn't traditional venture capital. For a variety of structural reasons, they don't typically invest in true venture backable software startups. As a result, the deals you work on and what you learn won't easily be transferable to a traditional venture fund.
2) They're based in Orlando. There is absolutely no venture scene or network in Orlando. Miami is the only place in FL that has a half decent startup scene. You're going to seriously impair your ability to build a credible VC network from there. If you're serious about a career in VC you need to be in SF or NYC.
3) I don't recognize any of their portfolio companies other than Tesla which was a very old exited position. Typically for a firm I don't recognize, I'll scan their portfolio to see if there are at least a handful of companies that are known and respected amongst VCs. All I see is a random hodgepodge of companies many of which aren't even software/tech startups. Contrast that with this random example: https://www.flexcapital.com/. Also a relatively newer firm that isn't well known, but immediately it's clear they have a legit portfolio (and the partners have legit operating & investing experience). This doesn't pass the smell test at all.
Signing up 2-3 projects per month implies 24-36 investments per year. If you look at their public portfolio it's a total of 59 investments (43 active, 16 exited) over 7 years (founded in 2017). Ask them how many deals Trip, their senior associate, closed last year. It's more likely that you'll do a deal or two a quarter at best as an associate and will be making much less than six figures.
The experience would be valuable to me regardless of how many deals they do per year. Plus I'm still searching so I'll take anything that aligns with the direction I'm going. It requires relocation so I don't think I'm willing to make such a commitment for a nonreputable firm.
Good call and that's generally the right attitude. If you do end up working at a place and it feels like a scam, don't be afraid to pull the plug and spend your time looking for something else (as long as you can afford to).
10+ years ago when I was looking for internships I ended up getting an internship at a company that was actually a boiler room chop shop based near Times Square. Everyone there was a character and the whole room was 12 guys smilin' and dialin' retail investors all day. I made over 200 cold calls my first day. The second day I made 1 call: to my boss saying "I quit". Wasn't even a paid gig and I had to pay for my own lunch/transportation so I was spending my own money to scam people.
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Thanks for the clarification, this is helpful context for anyone considering an associate role here.
And what exactly differentiates a project vs. an investment? The more clear the model is the more likely you'll be able to attract the right kind of scrappy, hungry candidate that's willing to put in the work to generate $. Wishing you luck filling the associate roles, it's a good problem to have!
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