John Francis of Stout Street Capital on Identifying Great Founders and Pre-Seed/Seed Companies

Today, David is speaking with John Francis.

John Francis brings his experiences as an operator and institutional venture investor. John Francis with Clay Gordon started Stout Street Capital in 2017. As General Partner, he focuses on investment opportunities in the IT software serving sectors such as Construction, Government, Energy, Cleantech, Media, Advertising, HR, Healthcare, and Cloud services. John works actively on several portfolio company boards, including Schola, Fluent Forever, Botco.ai, and Ad Fontes. He previously served on the boards of Popwallet (acquired by Snapchat (Nasdaq: SNAP)) and has made investments in companies such as Left-hand robotics(Acquired by TORO(NYSE: TTS)

What You’ll Learn:

• Difficulties in raising capital as a non-operator VC
• Operator vs. non-operator background VC
• The importance of having Empathy as a VC
• Benefits and flexibility of being a small check fund
• Difficult to identify an exceptional founder 
• Ways to look at pre-seed and seed companies
• Benefits and necessities of writing a follow on check

Favorite Quote:

“Always ask for a lullaby before getting into a business.”

-- 

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Early growth investor David Paul interviews the world's greatest ecosystem, learns how to start and scale your own business, and finds an edge in today's capital markets.  To connect with David, visit:

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DISCLAIMER:

David Paul is the founder and general partner at DWP Capital.  All opinions expressed by David and podcast guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinions of DWP capital.  This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for decisions. David and guests may maintain positions in the securities discussed on this podcast.