Emerging Managers
Over the past decade, we have come across exceptional early-stage VC investors from all walks of life. Some had hit the glass ceilings in their well-established venture firms. Some hit cultural glass ceilings. And Some were just naturally born leaders and builders.
We support exceptional entrepreneurs who are building highly differentiated pre-seed and seed financial products for their investors.
“Different” doesn’t scare us.
Direct Investments
Only Enterprise Software and IT Infrastructure, only expansion stage: No pre-seed or seed investments, no HealthTech, no CleanTech, no LifeSciences, no cannabis, no consumer products, no gaming.
We help you grow from $1M ARR to $20M ARR. We help you explore European and APAC markets. We help you enter the US market if you are from Europe, APAC, or LATAM. We help you scale your architecture to tens of billions of IOPS.
Together, we will create the best possible foundation and relevant KPIs to raise your next rounds of capital. And we have the right network for that, too.
$125M Evergreen Fund
100% GP Commitment
More Flexibility. More Discipline.
Open-Minded to Explore New Financial Products.
Don’t get me wrong: All conversations with potential investors and LPs have been incredibly insightful and rewarding. We will continue our dialog, and we will continue to be helpful and openly share and compare our lessons learned and our insights. But everyone knows how getting LPs over the finish line together (and to the target amount) is like herding cats for most venture capital managers.
Life is too short, for both LPs and us. Let’s both focus on what we’re good at: Selecting awesome managers, creating interesting financial products with the right risk-reward mix, and finding and accessing great deals.
This is the starting point of our next chapter, and it will keep us disciplined.
Follow our blog to learn more about upcoming financial products for investors.
Operating Principles
Don’t Only Tell The Truth – Make Sure People Hear The Truth.
Honesty develops the trust that things are as we say. But people have their own preconceptions, biases, and expectations. Exploiting these biases breaks trust. Deception breaks trust. We need to develop trust with employees, owners, investors, CEOs, service providers, the media, and the public.
Take The Long View.
Our products mature in 10-15 years. We need our investors, CEOs, employees, owners, to join our journey. Short-term gains do not guarantee long-term success.
Celebrate Small Wins.
Venture capital is a long game. Our minds should be lifted to higher goals. But it takes a lot of right steps and right actions to get there. At the end of a journey, every single step was important.
Share Know-how Over Knowledge.
If available, sharing practical know-how and first-hand experience is better than second-hand or academic knowledge.
Be More Interested In Ideas Than in People.
Over the decades we formed great friendships. But not everyone we meet becomes a friend. Some people will rub us the wrong way. That’s OK. But it is still worth listening to and understanding their ideas, their beliefs, and their values. Every human being knows something you don’t and can teach you something. If you have not discovered it yet, then you have not yet listened long enough.
Always Be Learning.
Our products, our ecosystem, and our investors constantly evolve. We must adapt to survive. That means constant learning, a hunger to be curious.
Be Ok With Bad News.
A lot of things fail or go sideways. That’s OK, and it is the nature of venture capital. Take it as an opportunity to learn. Life is not fair.
Default: Aggressive.
Default ≠ Always.
We can decide to step back and see, to wait, to gather more information. Or we can decide to act, to move forward, to execute. We must make decisions to move forward. Our default should be aggressive.
Collaboration Means Giving And Taking Leadership.
We must make decisions to move forward. But the venture capital industry is small, and our own firm’s human capital growth — new people, their skills, and their talents — is slow. We must actively provide and share insights and know-how to help make more right decisions, faster. And we have to seek out insights and know-how from everywhere — all our colleagues, mentors, CEOs, peers, investors, and friends.
Disagree And Commit.
If we disagree with a decision made by anyone, take five steps: (1) Be curious, understand the why. Engage. (2) Can the decision be reversed, and can you articulate a compelling argument to do so? (3) Do you believe the decision is fatal? (4) Is it worth quitting? (5) Commit fully.
Contact:
Thorsten Claus
tc @ thinkstorm.com
+1 (650) 430-1088
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thorstenclaus/