10 years of team, focus, and discipline.

This week was a quietly big week. Last Friday, Prequin reported that BRV was one of the most consistently high performing firms. This week marks my 10 year anniversary at BlueRun.

10 YEARS (big exhale.) Among the kind notes from friends and peers, I found myself thinking about what has made BRV so consistent of the last 20 years and what has made me continue to stay and thrive here for the last ten years. As I think back on our partnership and the decisions we have made, these two things stick out to me:

Discipline:

We advise our founders to stay focused and prioritize. Focus is also important in venture but it is easy to be drawn to the investment approach du jour. While we have adapted to the changing startup ecosystem, we have maintained discipline to some core venture principles.

1. Right sized funds: Our strategy is to invest with conviction into early stage companies. We think about portfolio construction and how much money we can meaningfully deploy AND return given our early stage focus. Since we always take board seats, we also think about team capacity and the amount of time we can meaningfully spent with each company.
2. Specialization: We stay focused on segments in which we have developed domain expertise. For us, it is mobile, fintech and real time data systems. Our track record of leading Series A rounds in PayPal, Waze, Ganji, Banjo, Coupa, Kabbage and others has given us invaluable experience to apply to the next crop of companies in these segments. Being a focused investor with deep domain expertise helps us both pick opportunities and build them into sustainable businesses.
3. Stage focus: Since 1998, we have stayed focused on Series A opportunities. Each new investment is done with conviction and we take meaningful ownership stakes and board roles. We keep reserves to follow on and protect our positions in companies that continue to execute. Staying focused on the early stage aligns us most closely with the founders and investors.

Team:

Coming from an operating background, it has always fascinated me that venture is such an individual sport. We would never expect our founders to be the CEO, CTO, CFO and CMO all rolled into one. At BRV, we have worked hard to build a culture across our team and our portfolio of helping one another. A couple years ago, I invited a prominent angel investor and startup advisor to one of our founder offsites. I was so happy to hear, “Your founders KNOW you, all of you and not just their board member.” We come from different background and offer different insights and skills in evaluating and supporting our portfolio. Our companies have access to our entire team. Our founder and portfolio events are geared towards sharing experiences and lessons learned along the startup journey.

“Your founders KNOW you, all of you and not just their board member.”

As I think back on my last ten years at BRV, I am grateful for the opportunity to be part of a team that values teamwork, culture, and development. I’m proud that BRV has consistently delivered results to our investors through our disciplined approach that best aligns us with our investors and our entrepreneurs. These last ten years went by in a blink and I’m excited to work with our investors, partners and founders to build the next ten.