Venture Capital: Does Seed or Early Stage Still Exist? (Ecliptic Capital & MicroVentures)

Welcome to the Executive Innovation Show Podcast, brought to you by One Touch Video Chat. During this podcast hear host, Carrie Chitsey, talk with Mike W. Erwin (Ecliptic Capital) and Brett Andrews (MicroVentures). 

Mike W. Erwin is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Ecliptic Capital, an Austin based “Venture 2.0” fund, targeting emergent investment opportunities.

Brett Andrews works at MicroVentures, a venture capital and investment banking firm in Austin, TX, where he is primarily responsible for sourcing investment opportunities, managing front end due diligence, and negotiating the term sheets for those engagements. 

Listen to “Venture Capital: Does Seed or Early Stage Still Exist?” as we discuss: 

Carrie sets the stage of this week's podcast, "Venture Capital: Does Seed or Early Stage Still Exist?". It seems like more venture capital firms are looking for a magic $1M ARR number. While they still like to have conversations and chat with folks to not miss the next unicorn, has the market shifted and where do founders turn for capital. In this latest episode, Carrie dives in with some burning questions from founders banging their heads on the walls wanting to know the answers. Carrie comes out with the burning question right out of the gate, does early stage, seed, or Series A, still exist? Hear Mike explain why terminology doesn't matter. Brett talks about the impact of the 2/20 model on capital deployment and says some folks might call Series B early stage these days. Why does Carrie love the chart (of where they deploy capital) on Ecliptic’s website and think that all venture companies should have it on their site. It calls out the 4 stages of investment, did Mike and team add it to their website from past experience of raising money as entrepreneurs? Where is MicroVentures investing in these 4 stages? Brett gives the 3 main areas where they are investing in.  From the entrepreneur perspective, finding the right investment partner is much like a marriage. Carrie asks Mike for his thoughts and tips to entrepreneurs on what advice he’d give founders to dip deep and find the right partner vs. ending up in a situation where you are just “taking money”. What are the key ingredients that both Brett and Mike look for in companies to invest in? Entrepreneurs listen up and take notes. Are relationships a higher priority than the numbers? There is a lot of debate about when is the right time to raise? What’s the real meaning behind the same old VC emails of “keep us updated on your growth”, “not enough traction” etc.? What is keeping these investors up at night? We know they are keeping entrepreneurs up at night, but hear what makes these guys lose some z’s. 

Keep up with the journey of Mike W. Erwin and Brett Andrews on LinkedIn.

You can also visit both Ecliptic Capital's and MicroVentures' websites, will they find the next unicorn? 

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