“Investments create an opportunity to learn more about emerging technologies” - Meredith Finn

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If you’re the founder of a company it can be a challenge to know when it’s the right time to reach out to an investor. If you’re in the seed stage of your company, it may be tougher for you. It might be best to spend  your time developing your company, your technology, and acquiring clients to reach a sustainable point in your company.

Because of this, many Corporate Venture Capitalists shy away from a company that’s in too early of a stage. They may find it better to wait until a company is in Stage A, when they can take the time to branch out and really communicate and build a relationship with a CVC.

Don’t let that discourage you if you’re the kind of a founder that thinks you can do it all. There are certainly a number of CVC’s out there whose portfolio is filled with companies they invested in their infancy.

The biggest thing is that you really need to analyze your company from a realistic standpoint. Know if this is the time to reach out or not. If you feel it’s the time, really research the CVC you plan to reach out to. KNow their portfolio, what they invest in, and when they typically invest in a company. It may sound like a no brainer, but make sure you always make sure you do your due diligence.

There’s nothing worse than wasting your time and an investor's time just because you didn’t take a little extra time to really research a CVC’s portfolio.

On this episode of Verizon Ventures we continue our discussion with Meredith Finn and Marcelo Ballvé to dive deeper into what CVC’s are looking for.

Download this episode of Verizon Ventures to learn what investors are looking for and how you can increase your success rate when reaching out to them.

Our guests include:

• Meredith Finn, Director of Sales Force Venture - the strategic investment arm SalesForce.com.
• Marcelo Ballvé, Senior Director of Research at CB Insights - a software and data platform that helps companies predict technology trends.

“Corporate Venture Capital is increasingly having a larger and larger footprint in the venture ecosystem as a whole.” - Marcelo Ballvé

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Highlights

• Sales Force tends to avoid investing at the seed stage.
• • Seed stage isn’t necessarily the right time to think about partnerships.
• Series A stage is the right time to start considering a partnership.
• Some CVC’s, like Google Ventures, do invest primarily at the seed stage.
• When investing, Sales Force doesn’t take control of the partnership.
• In 2016 alone there was around 100 CVCs that were created.
• • We are seeing a boom from a variety of industries.
  • Not just tech, but even automotive and food industry CVCs.
• CB Insights has a newsletter with all the newest trends and developments in CVC.
• Sales Force actively reviews and encourages people to send over ideas to their company.

“There’s some variance in Corporate Venture Capital in terms of how closely and how strategically aligned investments are.”

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Resources

CB Insights

Sales Force Venture