Why I joined Focal

I’m ecstatic to have joined the Focal team in London as a Principal. Focal (previously, The Stage) runs Europe’s leading startup demo day, without the resource commitment of an accelerator. No workshops, just one pitch in front of thousands of the world’s best investors, twice a year. And that’s just the start.

Why Focal?

This industry (like many others) is people-driven. Although I will undoubtedly suffer from imposter syndrome as long as I stay within VC, I am lucky enough to fill the knowledge void I have with the expertise of a co-founder in Taos; Principal at dmg ventures (transforming the corporate VC model, having backed the likes of Cazoo, Zoopla and many others) and Hector; General Partner at Episode 1 (a seed fund with a best in class graduation rate to Series A, having led deals such as Carwow and Attest, co-investing with the likes of NEA & Balderton).

Both have built Focal to attract over 1,500 category-defining founders and over 100 leading VCs each demo day. They’re on to something, having started with six VCs and 300 applicants just three years ago.

Why now?

I’m all too familiar with the pains of early-stage fundraising. It is archaic, inefficient, and inaccessible to many. Not to sound dramatic, but we’re standing at a once-in-a-lifetime crossroads of opportunity. We have the entrepreneurial talent, the network of investors and the awareness to drive change towards a more democratic funding environment.

But to achieve this, we must re-examine accessibility. Founders shouldn’t have to painstakingly track down every investor relevant for their round, nor should they allocate countless hours out of their 9–5 (or, in this case, 9–9 or more) towards fundraising.

That’s why Focal was created. We want to positively impact the ecosystem by levelling the playing field and empowering millions to identify and invest in the top 1% of startups globally.

Empowering retail investors like never before

My first foray into venture capital was a result of the new phenomenon at the time, crowdfunding; the relatively low cost of entry, the opportunity to be a part of a wider community, and the tax incentive all contributed to a large proportion of my student loan being invested on Crowdcube. If only I had enough of that loan left to parade my special edition Monzo card gifted to me post-participating in their 2017 round.

It taught me a great deal, predominantly how unscientific business plans and financial forecasts can be, but I fell victim to the false positives. The (albeit incredible) visionaries behind Crowdcube weren’t necessarily best placed to decide on which businesses go live; in an ideal world, you want to ride on the coattails of professionals whose day job is to assess the viability of a startup.

Three angel investments later, I’d like to think I’ve gotten somewhat better at this (I’ve come a long way since cannibalising my portfolio by investing in Revolut) but, to be truthful, at Focal, we’re uniquely placed to do a much better job. The advantages of Focal’s SPVs are significant; not only do we give investors a personal connection to our mission, but also the opportunity to have a great entry point into an even better business on investor-friendly terms (important to note that your capital is at risk here).

But we see a crucial part of our ecosystem missing, Limited Partners, and we have something incredible planned — watch this space.

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Looking ahead

Focal — Hector and Taos — have found a winning formula and I can’t wait to build something special alongside them.

To ensure you hear about upcoming demo days, join our mailing list where we’ll advertise it alongside other interesting things.

Whether you’re a founder, VC, angel investor, community builder, corporate or someone generally interested in the industry, you can find me on LinkedIn, Twitter or by reaching out directly to jack@gofocal.vc. Capacity permitting, I’m always open to a tête-à-tête!

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