1. Why do corporate venturers remind me of the girls I was chasing in my teens, who would only find me attractive if I already had a girlfriend? In other words, why do so many corporate venturers want to do deals only when other investors are already at the table?
I have been reading in these pages about the lean start up concept and I would like to send a copy of the book of that name to all the beach-bound clean-tech corporate venturers for their summer reading. They really need to be lighter on their toes, otherwise they will do only the deals that are brought to them by the slightly nimbler venture capitalists, which are not always the best.
The moral of the story for entrepreneurs is: do not expect the big guys to close quickly. Approach them with an investor already on board and make them fear they will miss out. Then they might move. Corporates are more typically afraid of failing than inspired to succeed by taking risks. The moral of the story for corporates is: be nimbler if you want to be more successful.
2. Family offices are not necessarily much quicker. Wealthy families do not have to work. I was waiting a long time to hear from a family office on a deal last year. I subsequently learned that the principal had gone skiing in Patagonia for two months. Fair enough.
But family offices are an increasingly heterogeneous bunch. Some are adopting a more professional and strategic modus operandi. Aeris Capital, a Zurich‐based family office founded on the wealth of SAP founder Klaus Tschira, is a good case in point. Hidden behind its one‐page website – de rigueur for families priding themselves on discretion and privacy – is a growing team recruited from the contracting world of financial venture capital. Two years ago, when solar stocks were being dumped en masse, Aeris made an admirably contrarian investment in struggling US solar manufacturer Nanosolar, which limped on but then folded. Aeris can afford to take the hit and has plenty of talent in its portfolio.
Skion, the family office of German billionaire indus–trialist Susanne Klatten – which also has a one‐page website – has quietly but quickly built a portfolio of water technology and water service companies over the past three years. Most recently, it took German municipal water business SH&E out of administration. This followed investments in Dutch centrifuge start up Evodos and Turkish wastewater technology specialist Miranda.
Skion and Aeris are new exemplars of family office investing. Dumb money they are not.
3. The road to ethical investors’ doors is littered with clean-tech skeletons because of the resilient myth that “the ethicals” want to invest in environmental technology. But they very rarely lead technology investments because they do not have the teams required to assess clean‐tech. The moral of the story for entrepreneurs is: bring a technology investor with you and the ethicals might join the deal.
Enjoy your holidays – I will text, not call.