Counterpart Ventures is a venture capital firm that partners with entrepreneurs to build early-stage technology companies. They provide strategic guidance, operational support, and a network of industry connections to help startups scale and succeed.

Counterpart Ventures

We are an early stage venture capital fund based in the SF Bay Area and Los Angeles. Our investments are at Seed and Series A stage in B2B SaaS startups.

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Intricately

Thank you Kimberly Gaulin, & the DLA Piper team (Kerra J. Melvin, Cassandra Cuellar, Josie Kamrath) for inviting me to speak about Counterpart Ventures' point of view on "Why Corporates take LP positions in Venture Funds?" 

Counterpart Ventures is a unique institutional fund that has built one of the largest Corporate Venture Capital networks, giving us an aerial of the CVC landscape. Shameless plug 😉  for our CVC Survey we released last year with our partners at SVB. Go check it out! 

https://lnkd.in/gQ8AJYCX

Patrick Eggen, Mikey Kailis, Abbie Wolf, Joe Saijo

Tomorrow we will be adding to our library of CVC content over the past five years with our next event, “How to Gain Independence as a CVC Fund.” We are proud to be building a treasure trove of resources for CVC leaders to refer to as case studies and best practices. If you are already a Counter Club member, you can head to the notes section to access it all. If you are a CVC and interested in digging in, request to join https://counterclub.vc/

Here are a few of our favorite nuggets ⛏️💎

Ilya Strebulaev’s presentation “The Venture Mindset,” a sampler ahead of his May 21 book release: "Say “no” one hundred times: CVCs typically say no to companies in a very different way compared to traditional VCs. Traditional venture often asks 'Why don't I want to invest?' as the best method to review the 100-10 startups in the scouting funnel. Starting at 100 deals, VCs narrow down to 10 by discerning very quickly why they don’t want to invest in the majority of the deals top of the funnel." Find it in the Counter IV Summary Notes. 

Christopher Langford’s Post-Mortem of Lowe’s Ventures where they focused on where they could win. "They often heard 'You’re the first person I’ve talked to who understands my industry.' Chris emphasized that Sand Hill Road couldn’t understand an industry like home improvement the way he could. Startups would try to make room on the cap table for Lowe’s because of this." Check it out in the Emerging CVC 2023 Recap

Patrick Eggen on setting up a small group of 2-3 people for a streamlined investment approval process at Qualcomm Ventures Early Stage Fund: “It’s dead simple and clever, but it requires total buy-in upfront as opposed to piecemeal approvals. We set up an entirely different approval process focused on speed, conviction and dealing with imperfect info so we could make a decision in 48-72 hours." In our last online event summary, How to Launch a CVC Fund Pt.1. 

#CVC #CorporateVenture #CoutnerClub

Exciting opportunity to join Soulside at the beginning and craft the future of the product thousands of users are already loving! Come join Surabhi Bhandari and Anurag Verma as we change the future of #mentalhealth.

209 CVCs from around the world participated in our 2023 State of CVC Survey co-authored by SVB. Less than 6% of CVCs invest out of a multi-LP Fund (down from 10% prior year) Structure and 17% self-reported that they were gaining independence from their parent organization.

We are excited to chat with leaders at two funds who have successfully raised external capital this Thursday—Anish Srivastava of Swisscom Ventures and Beckett Jackson of AEI HorizonX.

You can request to join “How to Gain Independence as a CVC Fund,” taking place at 9 AM PT Thursday: https://lnkd.in/gGn5aBjR 

As always, Corporate VCs can also request to join our community to stay up to date on all past and upcoming events: https://counterclub.vc/

See the full 2023 State of CVC Report: https://lnkd.in/gM_gF-Gm

#CVC #CorporateVenture #CounterClub

Hello everyone!

This past year at Remofirst has been nothing short of spectacular, filled with milestones and achievements that we'll remember for years to come. But hold onto your hats, because we're just getting started! We've got some thrilling news in the pipeline that we can't wait to share with you all. Keep your eyes peeled and your ears to the ground – you won't want to miss what's coming next! 🚀

But that's not all... We need your help! 
As we gear up for even more greatness, we're on the lookout for some extraordinary talent to join our ranks:

1) Head of Finance (US-based) – A financial wizard who's ready to steer our ship through the exhilarating waters of growth and innovation. Link: https://lnkd.in/gb9ACtfp

2) General Counsel (US-based) – A legal eagle, equipped to guide us through the complex legal landscape with wisdom and integrity. Link: https://lnkd.in/gs46khcN

3) Head of Product (Remote, global) – A visionary product guru who dreams of crafting solutions that change the game for our users around the globe. Link: https://lnkd.in/gwGVBn9e

Are you or someone you know the hero we're looking for? 🌍✨

This is more than a call for applications; it's an invitation to be part of something truly transformative. At Remofirst, we're not just building a team; we're crafting a family of forward-thinkers, dreamers, and doers committed to making a lasting impact.

David Hughson Volod Fedoriv Sarveen Chester Innes Bailey Angelica Krauss

38% of CVC funds spend more than 40% of their time managing the corporate parent (taken from SVB and Counterpart’s 2023 State of CVC Report, https://lnkd.in/g5EkRsta). CVCs frequently grapple with their strategic obligations, balancing making new investments and managing the mothership is a real challenge. Gaining independence as a CVC fund can take many forms – whether it be a complete spin-out or by bringing on fresh capital from an external source, there are many different examples over the history of CVC. In our next online event, we will talk with two investors about how they successfully gained independence and what lessons other CVCs can learn from their stories.
 
We’re pleased to welcome Anish Srivastava and Beckett Jackson as guest speakers for next week’s online event. Anish will discuss how Swisscom Ventures was able to raise external capital in 2017 and Beckett will discuss the 2021 move to spin out HorizonX (Boeing’s CVC fund) to AE Industrial Partners. 
 
If you are a member of the Counter Club, please visit the Events page to sign up and keep informed on all future events. If you prefer to only register for this event, head to the Zoom link https://lnkd.in/gGn5aBjR and register (approval required to gain access to event).

#CVC #CorporateVentureCapital #CounterClub #VentureCapital

CVCs frequently ask the question: how can we gain independence from our sole corporate LP? Whether you are trying to carefully spin out the entire fund or take on external capital to support your ambitious motives, dial in to our upcoming online event to learn how other CVCs have successfully raised outside capital. 

We’ll speak with Anish Srivastava, Venture Partner at Swisscom Ventures to learn how they were able to raise external capital while maintaining the support of the corporate mothership. Before Swisscom Ventures, Anish was leading Citi Ventures' Global Accelerators & Innovation fund and a key leader in JP Morgan Chase's Digital Customer Experience & Innovation organization. Prior, Anish held various senior & executive positions at startups and led mobile innovation and business development at Orange. 

You can register directly for the Zoom with the link below. If you are a corporate investor, head to https://counterclub.vc/ to view all our events and join 580+ investors worldwide.

I’m excited to share that I will be speaking at the Women’s Venture Capital Summit on February 7th hosted by With Intelligence. Now in its third year this Summit brings together women across the VC sector to share insights, discuss deal strategy, and build a network. #WVCS24
 
Find out more: https://lnkd.in/giQjuTXf

If you couldn’t make it to our first online event of the year, here are some insights from Agustina Sartori of Prisma Ventures (Ulta Beauty) and Chris Fortunato of CRH Ventures on how and why they launched a CVC fund. We also asked for some expert commentary from Counter Club advisory member William O'Donnell of Prologis Ventures and our very own, Patrick Eggen.

RULE #1 – You need an executive sponsor & justification for your existence 
➡️ Investment group vs. executing partnerships
➡️ Don’t get lost in Shiny Objects 🔮

RULE #2 —Simplicity: Set up the fund and investment committee with the ability to make decisions fast

RULE #3 —Setting Expectations and Delivering Results
according to Patrick Eggen:
➡️ For the first 1-3 years: show it is working.
➡️ Years 3-5 – scaling: rinse + repeat. 
➡️ Year 5 & beyond: financial returns—"If it is losing money, it isn’t strategic.”

We are pleased to announce the incredible line-up of speakers at our 2nd Women in CVC Summit on May 9th. Last year we brought together 50+ CVCs to engage in conversations about the CVC ecosystem, and broader professional development. It was the first all-day summit exclusively focused on engaging Women in CVC across the world. This year we hope to continue the momentum, by bringing together emerging investors, and senior leaders from a range of industries. Staying true to our roots, the summit will be fresh, authentic, and engaging. If you're a corporate investor and would like to attend, register on Counter Club: https://counterclub.vc/
 
Amy Daniels Burr, JetBlue Ventures
Eileen Tanghal, Black Opal Ventures
Vivien Ho, Pear VC
Elizabeth McNichols, Grasta
Danielle D'Agostaro, WVV Capital
Paulina Szyzdek, MBA, Bosch Ventures
Betty Bryant, Woven Capital
Savannah Greene,Workday Ventures
Heather Reginelli, State Farm Ventures
Marie-Christine Razaire, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures
Tanvi Narain, Counterpart Ventures

#corporateventure #cvc

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Counterpart Ventures