Elliott Robinson, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners — How Blck VC, Bessemer’s 10 Laws of Cloud, and “Cultural-add” Can Create Value & Diversity in Venture Capital
Kelver Arellano sits down with Elliott Robinson, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, a venture capital firm with over $5 billion under management and invests globally, with offices in San Francisco, Redwood City, New York City, Boston, Israel, and India.
On the first-ever Wharton VC Podcast episode, we discuss:
- Elliott’s childhood and how his family roots in entrepreneurship shaped his journey
- How organizations like MLT and Blck VC have provided him with an incredible opportunity to work on initiatives to increase racial diversity in venture capital
- How developing founder-empathy, gaining credibility early on in his career, and co-authoring Bessemer’s 10 Laws of Cloud has helped him create an incredible framework to evaluate investment opportunities
- The immense learning, value creation, and wealth generation that happens when there’s real diversity in start-ups
- And a lot more!
Notable Quotes with clips:
Lean into who you are, and remember that you are one-of-one
Try to be and bring in people who are NOT “cultural fits.” Bring in people who are “CULTURAL ADDS”… It’s way more fun!
Elliott Robinson is a partner in the San Francisco office, where he focuses primarily on growth investments in SaaS and cloud companies. He co-authors Bessemer’s iconic 10 Laws of Cloud Computing and the annual State of the Cloud Report. He looks to partner with companies and management teams that are defining their market category while also maintaining a set of core values that will allow them to grow their leadership position. Elliott is currently a board member for Hyperscience and Hinge Health.
Prior to joining Bessemer, Elliott was a partner with M12, leading investments in companies such as Livongo (IPO: LVGO), BlueVine, Trusona, and Cooler Screens. Elliott started his career with Syncom Venture Partners, investing in both early and growth-stage enterprise software and frontier tech companies such as CLEAR and Iridium Communications (IPO: IRDM). After six years with Syncom, he joined Georgian Partners, investing in a number of successful growth-stage software companies such as TurnItIn (acquired by Advance), Kinnser (acquired by Mediware), and eSentire.
Elliott earned his M.B.A from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Morehouse College. He is also a member of the Kauffman Fellows Class 22.
Publication: State of the Cloud, Power of the Product, and The Cloud 100
About Bessemer Venture Partners
Founded in 1911, Bessemer Venture Partners is a leading venture capital firm with over $5 billion in assets under management. The firm is currently headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in Redwood City, New York City, Boston, Israel, and India. Bessemer invests in seed-stage, early-stage, and growth-stage private technology companies with strategic focuses on enterprise, consumer, and healthcare sectors. As of 2019, the firm had invested in over 120 IPOs, including Pinterest, Shopify, Yelp, LinkedIn, Skype, LifeLock, Twilio, PagerDuty, SendGrid, DocuSign, Wix, Box, Mindbody, and VeriSign.
Additional Information on Bessemer: Philosophy, Team, Companies, Atlas, & Cloud Index
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Kelver Arellano
