Key Takeaways:
I had the pleasure of meeting Mac through Twitter then over Zoom last October. Over the holidays, I sat down with Mac Conwell to chat about his journey as an emerging manager, launching RareBreed VC, his investment philosophy, and his advice for those who want to follow in his footsteps.
McKeever “Mac” Conwell II is a software engineer by trade and was a former DOD contractor with “top-secret clearance doing a lot of cool stuff I can never talk about.” Mac spoke candidly about the highs and lows of his early career that ultimately led him to VC. He was…
Keys:
Keys:
Once you’ve laid the groundwork for your first fund — building your network, identifying your secret sauce and motivation, developing your thesis, and modeling your fund — how do you move forward?
I…
Keys:
Keys:
Take action now:
Managing up is a skill generally used by middle managers to guide…
Key Points:
The story of the young upstart founder is a popular narrative in today’s culture, but how genuine is it? A recent article by Ian Hathaway actually reveals that, on average, the most successful founders are in their 40’s. …
For several years I was frustrated that I couldn’t find a portfolio management tool to serve my needs as an investor. I started asking my colleagues if they had the same problems as I did regarding deal flow, system of record, and data aggregation with early stage investments.
I began with user interviews to refine my hypotheses about what investors want and need in portfolio analysis. After this validation, I started building and testing against those same people who would be my customers. Step by step, this became fiifi.
Having the right idea is an evolution of product, user interviews…
What a VC is thinking, How did we get here, Where’s my inspiration
Every morning from about 5–7 AM, I block off my schedule to read; anything from business news and books on entrepreneurship and VC to sci-fi and biographies. I usually have about 5 books on rotation, currently including these 3.
I usually try and read books I can burn through at a decent pace. As I have a little bit more time now without travel, meetings and events I have added some longer form books to my reading.
Surprisingly, these three books have helped me better understand the…
The Founder VC; founder/CEO at fiifi.co; past Managing Director @SVB_Financial #startups, Investor at Acceleprise