The ABCS of the Eniac Creed

Authentic. Bold. Curious. Scrappy.

By Vic Singh, Founding General Partner, Eniac Ventures

Over the past decade, we have lived a set of core values at Eniac that we recently codified. This value system forms the ethos of the firm we’ve built and the values we like to see in our partners including founders, LPs, the Eniac Network and the broader tech community. Together, these core values constitute the Eniac Creed and we work hard every day to ensure our work meets our creed.

Authentic

With Eniac, what you see is what you get. We have a transparent and real approach to our work. We strongly believe that being authentic in everything you do drives transparency and helps solve problems faster. Too much time gets wasted when folks try to sugarcoat their actual thinking and opinions. We cut to the heart of each issue and we strive to be authentic in every interaction with potential founders, portfolio companies, LPs and our own team. Eniac Ventures = No BS.

Bold

We believe that venture capital is a business of outliers. We strive to bet on bold teams and make bold but informed decisions to pursue opportunities that others may not see. This can manifest itself in the different sectors that interest us as well as the makeup of founding teams. There is no right formula for success. Having the audacity to pursue your vision takes courage, and we are not afraid to get to conviction when others don’t see the opportunity we see. We are bold investors who bet on bold founders and we do that in concert with a prepared mind.

Curious

Great founders are working on innovation across several vectors — whether it be a new breakthrough technology, a business model innovation, a unique go-to-market or a product vision that sets them apart. We have the curiosity to look at new cutting edge sectors but more importantly, we are curious about what founders are building. We want to see under the hood, and often surprise founders during a first pitch meeting by asking, “Tell me how it works in detail.” We love learning the details of how the products, systems, and services startups are building work. Our curiosity keeps us on our toes and leads us to find new interesting areas while also enabling a deeper understanding of the companies to interact with.

Scrappy

We built Eniac from the ground up with the DNA as founders of our own startups. While we have grown, from our first fund of $1.5M to our fourth fund of $100M, our roots as startup founders and founders of Eniac manifest itself in how we operate every day. We pride ourselves on making big things happen with fewer resources, people and capital. We turn over rocks others have overlooked, with grit and old-fashioned determination, we work nonstop to get it done. Being scrappy and doing more with less is a mindset that will shape the culture and systems of how startups operate as they grow into mature organizations.

So, if you’re an Authentic, Bold, Curious and Scrappy founder going after a massive opportunity, you may well fit the Eniac Creed.