IT Investing “It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine” Fred Wilson Managing...

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IT Investing “It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine” Fred Wilson Managing Partner Union Square Ventures 915 Broadway, New York, NY 212-994-7880 [email protected]

Transcript of IT Investing “It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine” Fred Wilson Managing...

IT Investing“It’s the end of the world as we know it

and I feel fine”

Fred WilsonManaging Partner

Union Square Ventures915 Broadway, New York, NY

[email protected]

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De

gre

e o

f D

iffu

sio

n

NextBig-bang

Deployment PeriodInstallation Period

CrashBig-bangTime

IRRUPTION

Institutionalre-composition

FRENZY

SYNERGY

MATURITY

Source: Carlota Perez, Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital

What’s Happening?

WeAre

Here

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The Stack

Management

Infrastructure

Applications

Services

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What’s Changed?

Fund Sizes $250mm to $1bn $100mm to $400mm

Markets Large Horizontal Smaller Vertical

Product Focus Technical Problem Business Problem

Technology Critical Success Factor Enabler

Data By-product Core Value

Differentiation Technical Approach Suitability, Effectiveness, Efficiency

Defensibility Intellectual Property Switching Costs, Network Effects

Management Team Engineering Driven Sales, Marketing, Operations Driven

Capital Requirements $30-50M $5-15M

Typical Exit Values $250-500M $50-150M

Valuation Metric Technology Position Revenue/Earnings Multiple

Then Now

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Technology Enabled Services

Web Services Data Services Both delivered together are even

better

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What do we look for?

Technology leverage. Can the service scale without incremental headcount and capex?

Service definition. Does the management team understand the problem/solution at a deep level?

Capital efficiency. Can the company be built for a small amount of capital?

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What do we look for?(continued)

Disruption – Markets that are being turned upside down because of technology

Examples: Marketing & Media Financial Services Telecomm

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It’s The Data Stupid!

Code is commodity - Data is proprietary

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Our Investments

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How We Do Business

Partner driven firm Small is better than big Early is better than late We want to be the first investor If you don’t want our advice, don’t

take our money

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How to reach us

www.unionsquareventures.com

[email protected]

[email protected]

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Or Read My Blog