#135 Gil Dibner and David Peterson, Angular Ventures
Dec 8, 2022
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David Peterson and Gil Dibner of Angular Ventures discuss the founding story of their venture, the challenges faced by European start-ups, and the advantages of being a pan-European fund. They emphasize the importance of alignment, early investments, and autonomy in making deals. They also share their perspectives on investing in uncertain times and offer tips for emerging VCs.
Angular Ventures focuses on backing deeply technical and specialized founders from Europe and Israel, aiming to penetrate global markets.
Being geographically broad as an investor in Europe allows Angular Ventures to tap into various startup ecosystems, providing significant benefits.
Deep dives
Founding Angular Ventures and the Vision Behind It
Gil, the founder of Angular Ventures, shares the story of how he founded the firm. He discusses his move from the US to Israel in 2005 and his realization that Europe was full of amazing technologists and founders. He saw that there were few European VCs with a background in investing in enterprise and deep tech companies. Thus, Angular Ventures was created with a focus on backing deeply technical and specialized founders from Europe and Israel, who aimed to penetrate global markets. The name 'Angular' reflects the preference for founders who are specialists in one area rather than well-rounded founders.
The Advantage of Being a Geographically Broad Investor
Gil and David discuss the misconception that covering multiple geographies is challenging. They emphasize that Europe is small and physically close, making it easier to travel between different countries compared to the United States. They believe that there are significant benefits to being geographically broad as an investor, allowing them to tap into startup ecosystems across Europe and Israel. While being local is helpful, it is not necessary to limit oneself to a single city or a few cities. The key is to focus on performance, aligning the investment strategy with the ability to generate outsized returns compared to larger firms.
Angular Ventures' Investment Strategy and Approach
Angular Ventures focuses on investing in modern enterprise and frontier technology companies with deeply technical or specialized founders. They invest at the pre-seed stage, often being the first and only term sheet a company receives. The firm takes a highly concentrated approach, making a handful of investments per year. Angular Ventures prioritizes alignment with founders, being deeply committed to their success and acting as a supportive partner. They aim to lead rounds and take responsibility for helping companies reach their next milestones. Additionally, they emphasize the importance of capital efficiency and keeping burn rates low, ensuring sustained growth and resilience.
Navigating Valuations and Portfolio Management in Uncertain Times
Gil and David discuss the impact of high valuations in the venture capital landscape. They express concerns about companies raising at exorbitant valuations early on, as it puts extra pressure on founders to justify those valuations. They highlight the importance of being capital-efficient, maintaining a low burn rate, and having a focused approach to achieve key milestones. They also stress the need for VC firms to be cautious when marking up valuations and to be transparent in communicating investment decisions with LPs. Angular Ventures takes a selective approach to investments, prioritizing alignment and ensuring realistic and sustainable growth for portfolio companies.
Today we are happy to welcome David Peterson and Gil Dibner, from Angular Ventures.
Gil is the General Partner and Founder of Angular. He has been an active venture investor focused on enterprise technology companies born in Europe and Israel since 2005. As a venture investor and angel, he has backed over 30 companies. Prior to founding Angular, Gil was a Partner at DFJ Esprit and a Principal at Index Ventures in London, where he helped manage their pan-European seed portfolio.
David is a partner who, prior to joining Angular, was employee #16 at Airtable, where he led growth and partnerships, developing full-stack GTM strategies and scaling the company to over 500 employees, grew from zero to 200,000 customers, and reached a $5.77B valuation.
In this episode you’ll learn:
– The founding story of Angular Ventures and how Gil & David think about complementarity in their partnership
– How Gil & David think about navigating the current market climate & why they leaned into their biggest bet ever this July
– Why Gil advises that alignment is kept front and center for emerging managers raising their fund
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