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Patrick Chun (Juxtapose) - What is an inception stage investment firm, why it’s less risky than modern venture capital, how he recruits CEOs to lead each business he incubates

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Jun 23, 2022

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INSIGHT

Juxtapose's Unique Venture Model

Juxtapose builds companies by deeply researching spaces before finding CEOs to lead them.
This contrasts with traditional venture capital, which often invests after founders pitch ideas.

INSIGHT

Evolution of Venture Capital

Venture capital used to require deep thesis and operator matchmaking before the internet.
Today, fast deal flow and inbound demand have shifted VC towards volume and selling.

INSIGHT

Lower Risk through Deep Validation

Juxtapose's model reduces risk by doing extensive work and choosing very few companies and partners.
They invest years validating opportunities before selecting a CEO to build the business.

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Our guest today is Patrick Chun, Founding Partner of Juxtapose. Juxtapose is an inception stage investment firm. Some of the companies that they founded include Tend, Care/of, and Dayforward. Their process for how they build companies is pretty unique for this show. We discuss their model, why their model is less risky than traditional venture capital, and his process for finding the right CEO to lead each business. Without further ado, here’s Patrick.

What is Juxtapose? What was the initial insight or prior experience that influenced your decision to found it? Why did you choose to found it?
Why do you believe your model is less risky than traditional venture capital?
1. You are incubating
2. When you say do the work, what do you mean?
What’s your process identifying an observation
1. True verifiable fact in the world
2. When your
3. Lots of observation
4. How many observations do you have a week
5. Insights you can pull off of an observation
6. On-demand dispatch
7. Track 500-1000 observations
  1. Talk about 50-100
What’s your process for building businesses step by step – from the ideation stage to creating beta products / product is in market?
Recycled and reentered the funnel
4-6 months
How do you think about timing as well?
Obsolete assumption
1. You can never have an investor home
When do you bring on an experienced CEO and team? How do you think about that process?
1. What are qualities you’d like to see from the CEO?
2. From 0 to 10 at what stage is the company in when you bring on a CEO?
3. How do you source “Michael Jordan” CEOs? If they are the Michael Jordan’s, what typically get them excited to join the company - since I’m sure they get alot of offers to lead different teams?
  1. Can it be difficult to attract since these companies are still small?
4. How do you hire the team?
Once a company has a CEO, how do you think about the role of Juxtapose moving forward with the business?
1. The best supporter of the company from 0-200 people
2. Is the shift from operator to more of board member/observer type role?
Do you ever get the itch to become a CEO of one of your companies?
How do you approach hiring for your studio? Are you looking for people who have operational experience or more investor experience since it seems the studio model is at the intersection of both?
What are the challenges with the studio model? What can get overlooked?
What are the shortcomings of the venture studio model or what do studios tend to struggle with?
Was there a prior experience that led you to want to build a different type of firm than traditional VC?
What’s one thing you would change about venture capital?
What’s one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
1. 4,000 weeks Oliver Burkman
What’s the best piece of advice for founders?
1. What is it that people will see in the market and if you’re right