20VC: Are LPs Open For Business? What Does it Take to Raise a Fund Today? How Has What LPs Want to See in Fund Investments Changed? Why Do LP Incentive Mechanisms Need to Change? Which Funds Will be Hit Hardest with Beezer Clarkson @ Sapphire Partners
Beezer Clarkson leads Sapphire Partners' investments in venture funds domestically and internationally. Beezer has invested in some of the best firms of a generation including USV and Point Nine to name a few. Beezer began her career in financial services over 20 years ago at Morgan Stanley in its global infrastructure group. Prior to joining Sapphire in 2012, Beezer managed the day-to-day operations of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson Global Network, which then had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide.
In Today's Episode with Beezer Clarkson We Discuss:
LP Landscape: WTF is Going On:
Are LPs really all closed for business?
What has changed in what LPs want to see from managers they are looking to invest in?
What has changed about the size and pace of new commitments for LPs?
Are all LPs moving away from growth?
2. 2020-2022: Years in Review:
Are LPs frustrated by managers who reduced deployment timelines to 12-18 months?
Are LPs frustrated with managers who did not take liquidity when they could have done?
How does Beezer advise managers on when and how to take liquidity in their best positions?
Are managers accurately marking their portfolios to their LPs today?
Why does Beezer believe the incentive mechanism for LPs is broken today in many ways?
3. How To Build a Top Decile Firm:
Why does Beezer believe if you want to have the best returns, you have to have one company that returns the fund? Can you not do it with multiple half-fund returners?
Is ownership core to all the best firm's top performance? Is it the size of outcome or the size of ownership that drives the best performance across the board?
What does data show on how the best funds take significant risk? What are their loss ratios?
What are the core tradeoffs to Beezer between scaling AUM and providing top decile returns?
4. LP Markets: The Times They are a Changing:
Does Beezer believe LPs will remain cold on large $1BN+ growth firms?
Which segments of the market are hot? Which are cold?
What are the most significant changes we will see in the LP markets moving forward?
Is today the new normal or are we in a downturn that we will come out of?
20VC: Explosion of First Time Funds, Only 1 Mega Fund Raised: What The Heck Happened in Q1 Venture Markets with Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures
Beezer Clarkson is Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures where she leads Sapphire's investments in venture funds domestically and internationally. Prior to joining Sapphire, Beezer managed day-to-day operations @ DFJ's Global Network, which had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide. She has also spent time at Omidyar Network created by Ebay founder, Pierre Omdiyar, Hewlett Packard and Morgan Stanley. Beezer also founded OpenLP.com, an effort to help foster greater understanding in the entrepreneur-to-LP tech ecosystem.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Beezer make her way into the world of limited partners?
2.) How has the venture industry performed as a whole for Q1 2017 both in funds raised and $ invested? How does this compare to previous years?
3.) How is the 1st time fund manager ecosystem developing? Is it fair to say that first-time funds and micro funds are now an established part of LP portfolios? To what extent does shortening fund cycles concern Beezer?
4.) What other areas of the market have we seen explosive growth in? Why was the # of $100-$250m down last year? Why is it different this year?
5.) How does Beezer analyze the recent activity in the public markets? How does this liquidity affect the fundraising market for both startups and GPs? Will we see a return to bubble like times?
As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Beezer on Twitter here! The thoughts, comments and opinions in this podcast do not represent investment advice and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sapphire Ventures.
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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20VC: More $ Raised This Year Than The Past 15, War Chests Being Built & Decline In First Time Funds: So What The Heck Is Happening In Venture with Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures
Beezer Clarkson is Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures where she leads Sapphire's investments in venture funds domestically and internationally. Prior to joining Sapphire, Beezer managed day-to-day operations @ DFJ's Global Network, which had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide. She has also spent time at Omidyar Network created by Ebay founder, Pierre Omdiyar, Hewlett Packard and Morgan Stanley. Beezer also runs the incredible openlp.com which is really opening up the world of LPs and if you have not checked that out, it really is a must!
In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Beezer make her way into the world of limited partners?
2.) $27bn was raised by 137 funds in Q1 + Q2 of 2016, what does this mean for the theory that venture is a game of the have's and have nots? How does this compare to previous years?
3.) How is the constriction in capital affecting first-time funds? How many were raised so far this year? What were the common characteristics in those that were successful?
4.) How is the Series A market performing this year? Does the data agree with the common thesis of the rise of the late stage 'private IPO'? Does this lack of liquidity concern Beezer?
5.) Why is Beezer so bullish on the future ahead for tech? How does Beezer think Brexit will affect the wider market?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:
Beezer's Most Recent Investment: SaaStr Fund
As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Beezer on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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20VC: What LP's Want In VCs with Beezer Clarkson, Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures
Beezer Clarkson is Managing Director @ Sapphire Ventures where she leads Sapphire's investments in venture funds domestically and internationally. Prior to joining Sapphire, Beezer managed day-to-day operations @ DFJ's Global Network, which had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide. She has also spent time at Omidyar Network created by Ebay founder, Pierre Omdiyar, Hewlett Packard and Morgan Stanley. Beezer also runs the incredible openlp.com which is really opening up the world of LPs and if you have not checked that out, it really is a must!
In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Beezer make her way into the world of limited partners?
2.) How do LP's find a new and talented fund manager? Is it a similar referral process as in startups with? How does the sourcing element of the LP world work?
3.) How do GPs raising a fund differ from startups raised their round? What are the similarities and differences in the processes?
4.) What does the investment decision making process look like for Beezer? Are their commonalities in the process of great LP's processes? What do you at Sapphire focus on when investing??
5.) At Sapphire you have extensively researched the formulas of what makes a great VC, what have been your findings? What are the commonalities amongst the great VCs?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:
Beezer's Fave Blog: Term Sheet, Strictly VC, The Information
Beezer's Fave Book: The Tale of the One Way Street
As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Beezer on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here! The Twenty Minute VC is brought to you by Leesa, the Warby Parker or TOMS shoes of the mattress industry. Lees have done away with the terrible mattress showroom buying experience by creating a luxury premium foam mattress that is order completely online and ships for free to your doorstep. The 10 inch mattress comes in all sizes and is engineered with 3 unique foam layers for a universal, adaptive feel, including 2 inches of memory foam and 2 inches of a really cool latex foam called Avena, design to keep you cool. All Leesa mattresses are 100% US or UK made and for every 10 mattresses they sell, they donate one to a shelter. Go to Leesa.com/VC and enter the promo code VC75 to get $75 off!