What we are learning as we build a community of artists & sports people around our venture…
An invention that can change the world is no good if no one knows about it.
This, it turns out, is one of the critical problems to solve when building a venture capital firm for science-driven founders.
It is not the first instinct of a scientist to step into the light and tell the world about their project.
Even harder to solve, there are populations that will not listen to scientists and will not listen to the media.
But they will listen to their favourite actor, sports star, musician or chef. I’ll call them artists for this post.
‘Voice’ is capital
We began our project with the belief that voice is capital.
Like money and team, voice is a resource that can be allocated to a pursuit of impact and growth.
The global entertainment and sports industries understand this well and have refined a machine for harnessing it.
Last year, we began learning about it and exploring opportunities to combine the inventions in our portfolio with the voice of this community.
Here are three observations so far.
#1. This is not a new trend and there is more to it than Ashton Kutcher’s angel portfolio
Over the past 10 years, artists and sports people have been building capability in their own management teams to invest their voice into projects.
This is more sophisticated than a promotional fee for an Instagram post. Artists are founding companies, running private equity funds and building media brands around innovation.
It is harder to ‘get into’ but it is a powerful engine which has learned its lessons well from the entertainment industry.
#2. Voice is more valuable and harder to attain
Voice is like a rare metal. Prospecting takes a long time and it is very difficult to find a path to value.
The entertainment industry is very good at qualifying opportunities and filtering out the cacophony of forces trying to get an allocation.
Voice capital needs to be gathered patiently and collaboratively. Then nurtured like a precious jewel.
#3. A voice needs a mission
A mission is the shared medium through which a voice travels and a company delivers impact.
The least-friction way to attract voice capital is to align on a mission that was already driving both parties before they meet.
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Voice capital can’t be bolted onto a startup. It needs to be integrated and, like any great relationship, it needs to work both ways.
You will hear from some of our voice investments soon.
For now, I want to leave you with the insight that building deep tech companies is more than finding some IP, hiring a CEO and watching the magic happen. There are dimensions to a successful strategy that are easy to miss.
I am @philmorle on Twitter if you want to talk about this more.
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