“They’ve raised over $12 million to date for the first fund and plan to hire a small team of all-star design partners who will work with portfolio companies on everything from branding and marketing to user research and recruiting staff.”
Assuming a 2.5% management fee, that $300k a year will definitely hire a small team of “all-star design partners”…eh…maybe one partner and a bunch of “all-star” unpaid interns you definitely should trust with your start-up design and product development future.
“Think Andreessen-Horowitz, but hyper-focused on design and with a small, elite portfolio. It’s a new approach to venture, one that takes the “merchants of service” VC model to the extreme.”
So KPCB, Sequoia, or other firms with in-house design and full creative labs aren’t hyper-focused? I guess they spread themselves too thin with operating advisors, sales and marketing advisors, legal, HR, and other support besides just “design.”
It really is “to the extreme” to invest in businesses that have to outsource core product design decisions instead of having the capabilities in-house. Talk about business moats.
“Fittingly, Adam and Soleio want to focus their attentions on companies tackling ambitious problems. Their first two investments do just that — one’s an autonomous robotics company still in stealth and the other is a platform for sculpting and fabricating prosthetic limbs more efficiently.”
That “like button” design experience definitely translates well into establishing manufacturing supply chain and distribution partnerships, product development organization design, and everything else involved with their current portfolio companies.
“The day I came by Combine’s new office, Adam and Soleio were poring over plans for customizable furniture. They’d asked their architects and interior designers — Red Dot Studio and Storey Design — to invent movable, modular pieces, so they could adapt their space for different situations easily.
“You could turn this furniture into a company you know,” Adam told the architects. By their reactions, it seemed they’d never even considered the idea.
Perhaps Combine’s own architects will make the roster as company #3.”
Good to know their investment strategy for company #3 involves building a business around intellectual property copyrighted / owned by third-party designers. Guess not reading legal contracts is another “to the extreme” investment strategy. Hope they enjoy paying a perpetual royalty on anything they start using copyrighted third-party designers’ work.
All the best to these clowns running the Clinkle of VC. Sign on up, aspiring entrepreneurs!