Nomics’ Lead Investor on Growing Startups Outside the Valley w/ Patrick Meenan of Arthur Ventures

I'm joined by Patrick Meenan, General Partner at Arthur Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in B2B software companies located outside of San Francisco. Patrick has been with Arthur Ventures since 2012. He's also a board member at Nomics, the company that produces this podcast.

This interview is relevant to blockchain startups. Indeed, most blockchain startups are not in the Valley and even if they were, the standard playbooks wouldn’t apply to many of them because of the unique dynamics of this space. In this episode, we discuss methods and approaches for funding, growing, and operating a company outside Silicon Valley or even the United States. As a side note, Patrick and I go back quite a bit. He was involved in the first round of funding for my previous company, LeadPages, which went on to acquire an email service provider called Drip. We’ve sat on a board together for over six years.

My conversation with Patrick is split into 4 chapters:

- Chapter 1: Lessons learned investing outside the Valley

- Chapter 2: Business operations

- Chapter 3: Fundraising outside the Valley

- Chapter 4: Blockchain-based investment opportunities

In this episode, we discuss:

Patrick's background prior to joining Arthur Ventures

The origin of Arthur Ventures

The first thing Patrick learned about early-stage investing

The danger of using a Bay Area playbook outside the Valley

How good companies share common characteristics

How Patrick finds opportunities outside of San Francisco

Different reasons why companies take capital

How Patrick evaluates a company's growth prospects

Why Arthur Ventures prefers to be the lead - or only - investor

Mistakes that can derail a company's growth

The right and wrong times to take liquidity

How entrepreneurs can find VCs outside the Valley

What to pay attention to in a term sheet

How to run an effective board meeting

Why it's an encouraging time to be in blockchain

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