Navigating the Competitive Seed Market: Strategies for Success

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.

This week we welcome the three co-founders of Saga Ventures: Ben Braverman, Thomson Nguyen, and Max Altman. Saga Ventures is a seed-stage investment firm that recently closed its first fund of $125M.

The conversation dives into their experiences in raising their first fund, building a team, and navigating a competitive seed-stage market. The co-founders bring unique skill sets from their previous roles in operating and investing, and this episode sheds light on how they strategically combine those skills to differentiate themselves from other firms.

About Ben Braverman

Ben Braverman is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Saga Ventures, a $125M venture capital fund he co-launched in March 2024 alongside Max Altman and Thomson Nguyen. At Saga, Ben focuses on early-stage investments, working with pre-seed and seed-stage companies across various sectors. His background in scaling companies' go-to-market strategies provides valuable insight into helping startups grow efficiently and sustainably.

Before founding Saga Ventures, Ben spent nearly nine years at Flexport, a major player in the logistics space. Starting as Chief Revenue Officer in 2014, he was instrumental in building and scaling Flexport’s global sales and go-to-market teams. Later, as Chief Customer Officer, Ben oversaw customer relationships and corporate development, ensuring the company's growth aligned with customer needs. His final role at Flexport saw him leading Flexport Ventures and Corporate Development, where he focused on the company's strategic investments.

Earlier in his career, Ben held growth and sales leadership positions at startups like URX, which was acquired by Pinterest, and Heyzap, acquired by RNTS Media. He holds a degree from Vassar College and has spent his career helping innovative companies grow through a hands-on approach to business development and customer engagement.

About Thomson Nguyen

Thomson Nguyen is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Saga Ventures, where he has been since March 2024. At Saga, he focuses on early-stage investments in technology-driven companies, drawing on his extensive experience in data science, machine learning, and entrepreneurship. Thomson’s deep technical expertise helps him identify promising startups, especially those at the intersection of technology and business.

Prior to Saga, Thomson founded Nearside, a financial services platform for small businesses, which he led from 2019 until its acquisition by Plastiq in 2022. Before that, he was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Kleiner Perkins and the Head of Capital Data Science at Square, where he managed the data science team responsible for critical business areas like default risk, marketing optimization, and product innovation. His career in fintech is rooted in his work at Framed Data, a startup he founded and later sold to Square.

Thomson started his career as a data scientist at tech companies like Lookout and Causes, where he applied his expertise to user segmentation and predictive analytics. He also has a longstanding academic affiliation with New York University’s Courant Institute, where he continues to contribute to research in machine learning and cybersecurity. Thomson holds degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Cambridge and Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.

About Max Altman

Max Altman is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Saga Ventures, a venture capital fund he helped establish in March 2024. Max focuses on investing in pre-seed and seed-stage companies, working closely with his co-founders to identify and support high-potential startups. His experience as both an investor and operator allows him to bridge the gap between capital and company-building.

Before co-founding Saga Ventures, Max was a Partner at Alt Capital from 2021 to 2024, where he invested in early-stage companies. Prior to that, he held a similar role at Apollo Projects, another investment firm focused on startups. His career as an investor began at Hydrazine Capital, where he worked from 2016 to 2019. During his time there, Max honed his skills in evaluating high-growth tech companies and building meaningful relationships with founders.

Earlier in his career, Max gained operating experience at Zenefits, where he worked in product management, and at Allston Trading as a trader. He also spent time at Microsoft as a program manager. Max holds a degree in Computer Science from Duke University and has built his career by combining his technical background with a passion for early-stage investments.

In this episode, we discuss:

* (01:42) The origin story of Saga Ventures, and how the co-founders decided to join forces. Max Altman shares how the idea of starting a fund came about and why he didn't want to follow a solo GP model

* (03:31) The unique, complementary skill sets the team brings to the table—Ben’s expertise in go-to-market strategy, Thomson’s technical knowledge, and Max’s investor relationships—and how this combination is designed to support early-stage founders

* (04:58) Their hands-on, founder-first approach, focusing on critical areas like product development and initial hires, differentiates Saga from other early-stage firms.

* (06:11) The "reality meter" and the importance of being able to take hard hits as an entrepreneur or venture firm, emphasizing how all three co-founders share this mentality

* (07:50) The team reflects on the challenges of raising their first fund, including dealing with partnership risk, self-awareness, and the difficulties of convincing LPs early on without firm commitments

* (10:02) The careful consideration that went into deciding the fund size of $125M, balancing capital deployment with staying competitive in seed-stage deals.

* (12:00) Their fundraising process, the strategic decisions involved, and the importance of securing anchor investors before taking meetings with LPs.

* (15:19) What LPs are looking for in early-stage venture firms and the role of partnership risk in their decision-making process

* (17:33) Why their shared vision and complementary skill sets have aligned them for long-term success as a team, along with their commitment to focusing on specific sectors like fintech and infrastructure

* (19:22) The importance of having a clear value-add for founders beyond capital, and the importance of storytelling and salesmanship in early-stage companies

* (23:25) The internal decision-making process at Saga, how the partners determine which deals to pursue, and the dynamics of reaching consensus when choosing investments

* (26:45) Patience and long-term thinking are critical when evaluating deals, and how they ensure they don’t rush into investments just for fear of missing out

* (28:19) The importance of founder resilience and self-awareness, noting that the best founders are those who can attract talent and navigate through difficult times

* (30:00) Why salesmanship and charisma are critical qualities in founders, as startup leadership often requires convincing others to join and invest in challenging ventures

* (32:00) The team discusses their approach to sourcing and winning deals in a highly competitive market, focusing on the importance of building trust and delivering consistent value to founders.

* (34:05) Max talks about the significance of being the first firm to back companies and how they collaborate with other VCs to co-lead investments.

* (36:45) Being transparent and responsive to founders creates lasting relationships, even when they pass on deals

* (38:04) How they measure success internally at Saga Ventures, focusing on inputs such as responsiveness and the strength of founder relationships, while understanding that long-term results will take years to evaluate

* (41:00) Key lessons from the fundraising process, stressing the importance of clarity when positioning their fund to LPs and being patient in closing commitments

* (43:25) How the venture landscape has evolved over the past 18 years, highlighting the increasing competition and the need for VCs to be highly self-aware and strategic when entering deals

* (45:40) Building a venture firm requires a long-term mindset, much like running a successful company

I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Glenn. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.

Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit ventureunlocked.substack.com