May 5, 2023

- Advertisement - Last August, I passed the point at which I had spent my entire life working in this asset class, started making institutional investments in venture funds, in the General Motors Pension Fund, and back in February of late-stage 2001. Used to direct No matter how you slice it and what end point you measure, that’s a very long time to do one thing. - Advertisement - I’ve decided this is long enough for me – especially given the fact that when you’re in venture capital, you don’t stop. You can put off making new investments, but it will take years to actually work through your active portfolio companies. For me, I have at least two years of active board and observer commitments before I hit (or miss, I guess) all the founders have their ultimate goal of returning a lot of money to their investors. , It has been a career that suits my personality. I know it’s a cliché that VCs say they like to be helpful, but I really think of it as a service act – not one that’s purely about asset allocation. To be able to offer relevant advice or a connection at the right time and to see when a founder makes it to that turning point and leads to success, it has been incredibly rewarding. - Advertisement - However, this has not always been as beneficial as it could be. One thing that Andy Weissman told me when he moved from Betaworks to Union Square Ventures, which I didn’t fully appreciate at the time, was that if you’re a small, first check investor, you should really does not get pleasure. your winner I understand that now, being an investor in companies with more than 100 employees, $100mm is closing in on the run rate, where I’ve been a board observer long enough and most of my interactions are with the larger, later Charan’s investors followed me. They’ve been nice enough to send me a board deck, but that’s about all the engagements I had at this point because I didn’t have enough money to maintain my position. While this may have made sense from an investment perspective, keeping my average buy-in price low, it also meant I missed out on a lot of joy and achievement along the way. Still, I’ve never wanted to trade the speed of deals and the stage I start with a company that has worked in a later stage fund where capital becomes a commodity. I take pride in the fact that I was the first Czech when no one else was willing to take the risk for so many companies. - Advertisement - I’ve also been incredibly fortunate to work with world-class investors such as Fred Wilson and Josh Kopelman. I have supported more than 113 companies built by some of the smartest, most ambitious and, most importantly, highest character founding teams—44 of them started by female founders, 31 by BIPOC founders, 9 by Black founders and 14 were started by LGBTQ+ founders. Almost all of them were first time founders when I wrote them my first check and I led most of the deals I was in. While I’ve helped source companies that generated great returns on first round capital from their first investors like GroupMe, Singleplatform, Backupify, and Moat, my biggest Brooklyn Bridge Ventures win is still ahead of me, including one company which will generate approximately $400 million in revenue. Another big exit this year which I will be able to announce in the next few months. In other words, there’s still a lot of work to be done here and the lights will be on until the last investment is done. I’m flipping the sign on the front door to “Closed” for new investments because the term sheet I just handed out will be my last investment out of Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and I won’t be raising a fourth fund. That’s it. No more founder pitch meetings. sincerely? I couldn’t be more excited for what comes next—even if I don’t know exactly what it will be. A few months ago, one of the smartest and most accomplished professionals I know asked me to work with him as a coach and while we’ve just started, it’s been a great experience so far. It is likely that I will opportunistically take on a few more of those relationships as time permits. It would be great to work with some innovative investors early in your career who are changing the face of the industry. I will also continue to work within the NYC tech community – now thriving on a level I could hardly have imagined when I first got the pitch deck for USV’s first fund as a Limited Partner at the GM Pension Fund . Come to think of it, I almost didn’t attend that 2004 meeting because it was a NYC-based fundraiser. Now I can’t imagine anyone wanting to start a company in any other community—and I’m proud of all the work I’ve done to promote it and build connections within it. What I want to do is find ways to continue the community platforms and events I’ve built prior to my involvement—but I have time to figure it out. In the meantime, I’ll still accept most invitations to speak to founders’ groups if I think my experience might be helpful, or hop on a podcast to share my experience like I did recently. Did it with Matt Blumberg at Bolster where I talked. A little bit about my career and this new move – so you’ll still be seeing me around NYC tech stuff, maybe not as much as I was when I was 31. That’s how Fred Wilson described me in 2010.