EP #479 - Geri Kirilova: An American VC in Zurich

Timestamps:

10:04 - Laconia’s investment strategy

12:56 - Why no warm intro is needed

19:17 - How Laconia evaluates deals

27:55 - Wishful thinking & investment red flags

36:27 - Do Swiss companies need outside investment?

This episode was co-produced with the Deep Tech Nation Switzerland Foundation.

About Geri Kirilova:

Geri Kirilova is a partner at Laconia, a seed stage fund focused on B2B software companies. Geri holds a BA in Information Systems & Management from the NYU Stern School of Business, and worked as a VC for funds like Credo Ventures and LAUNCHub before joining Laconia in 2017. She recently moved to Switzerland with her husband.

According to Geri, Laconia mainly invests in industries like retail tech, ecommerce enablement, proptech, fintech and digital health, and their investment strategy focuses on three key aspects:

• Strong unit economics;

• The ability to grow in a capital-efficient manner;

• The ability to make decisions in a repeatable fashion.

As a rule, Laconia does not require a warm intro, and encourages companies to cold email them. This is because nowadays warm intros have become so standard that they no longer hold any value in Geri’s eyes. What used to be “Hey, this person I worked with before is the smartest person I know, and they’re raising funds for their company” has become “Hey this person I know is raising funds for their company”, so to Geri and her team, a “lukewarm intro” is the same as a cold email.

When evaluating deals, Geri thinks of the following questions:

• What are the key beliefs, risks and hypotheses of this company?

• Is there market demand for their product?

• What’s this company’s go-to-market strategy?

• Can this company acquire significant market share over time?

• Do the founders have the right balance of ambition and realism to execute their vision?

The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠⁠

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