{"id":44962,"date":"2023-10-20T15:40:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/blackbird-venture-capital-update-and-tips-500-start-up-applications-and-nine-deals-later-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:40:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:40:01","slug":"blackbird-venture-capital-update-and-tips-500-start-up-applications-and-nine-deals-later-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/blackbird-venture-capital-update-and-tips-500-start-up-applications-and-nine-deals-later-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackbird Venture Capital update and tips: 500 start-up applications and nine deals later – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eight months, over 500 applications and nine investments later, Blackbird Venture Capital has published a detailed update about the deal-flow on their blog.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since launching earlier this year, 326 start-ups have applied to Blackbird Venture Capital, and a further 260 to the Startmate Accelerator Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fund co-founder Rick Baker told StartupSmart<\/i> almost 100 of the ideas pitched to them weren\u2019t even logged because they were pitched too early.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was more a stage issue, as we\u2019ll log anything even if it\u2019s a crazy idea. For that 100, they were usually people who had ideas that hadn\u2019t formulated their idea into an actual business yet,\u201d Baker says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Baker says they rarely invest in start-ups without customer traction, and they do look at revenue as a key indicator.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe like a late seed round company, where the product is in the hands of a core group of happy, repeat customers,\u201d Baker says. \u201cOne of the greatest indicators of happy customers is revenue, and especially recurring revenue, so that is something we focus on but that\u2019s not the only measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Of the nine start-ups they\u2019ve invested in, only one, Canva<\/a>, didn\u2019t have a product in the market. Baker says the fact the founders had successfully ran a similar business previously, had generated serious excitement and capital from Silicon Valley and attracted a great tech team meant they were happy to break their own rules and back them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cFor 99.9% of start-ups who are only at business plan stage, and we do see a lot of them, it\u2019s a fairly quick no from us. These guys should talk to the angel community if they need funding to take the next step,\u201d Baker says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Blackbird Venture Capital, the deal make-or-break factor is a founder with an authentic connection to the problem they\u2019re trying to solve.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe really need to see the founder and be convinced they\u2019re the best in the world to deliver and execute on the idea they\u2019re talking about. This means having both expertise and passion around a certain industry, activity or demographic they\u2019re trying to attract,\u201d Baker says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He adds the global start-up ecosystem is seeing the impact of the commoditisation of entrepreneurship, but successful start-ups rarely spring from founders who lack an authentic connections and industry experience.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI do feel that a bunch of founders we\u2019ve seen have sat in their bedroom and thought up an idea without a unique connection to it. It can be a great idea, but you have to have done it outside in the real world environment to actually be innovative,\u201d Baker says. \u201cI\u2019d rather see founders go and work for a start-up in an area they\u2019re interested in first, so they can become the experts before launching their own idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genuine experience will enable founders to create viable business ideas that are distinct enough from competitors to be worth exploring. Baker adds this was the key issue with the majority of applicants, and a key indicator the founder isn\u2019t enough of an expert yet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Baker also shares in the post why they implore founders to get in touch through their networks rather than cold emails, and the other key factors they look for in the start-ups they fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight months, over 500 applications and nine investments later, Blackbird Venture Capital has published a detailed update about the deal-flow<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44962"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}