Seed to Harvest Beezer Clarkson, General Partner at Sapphire Ventures, on Demystifying the LP Perspective With Open LP, Portfolio Construction, and Fundraising Advice for GPs | Seed To Harvest Ep28
Seed to Harvest is a new podcast focused on stories & tactics from a diverse array of investors, founders, and creators, hosted by Paige Finn Doherty, a founding partner at Behind Genius Ventures and author of Seed to Harvest, an illustrated children's book for adults.
In the 28th episode of Seed to Harvest, Paige Doherty interviews Beezer Clarkson, General Partner at Sapphire Partners. Beezer leads Sapphire Partners‘ investments in venture funds domestically and internationally.
Beezer began her career in financial services over 20 years ago at Morgan Stanley in its global infrastructure group. Since, she has held various direct and indirect venture investment roles, as well as operational roles in software business development at Hewlett Packard. Prior to joining Sapphire in 2012, Beezer managed the day-to-day operations of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson Global Network, which then had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide.
In 2016, Beezer led the launch of OpenLP, an effort to help foster greater understanding in the entrepreneur-to-LP tech ecosystem. Additionally, she is a judge for 100&Change, a MacArthur Foundation competition that provides funding to solve critical challenges of our time. In 2014, she was named to the Forty Over 40 list of women to watch.
Beezer earned a bachelor’s in government from Wesleyan University, where she served on the board of trustees, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Born in London, she has dual US and EU citizenship, and has also lived in Boston, New York, Honolulu, and Spain.
00:00 the main focus of Sapphire Partners
06:55 launching a venture fund is a multi-decade experience
07:51 why Beezer Clarkson chose venture over other career paths
11:23 starting #OpenLP
14:39 amazing tips for GPs talking with LPs
16:15 what Beezer Clarkson wishes GPs knew coming from the LP perspective
20:09 benchmarks emerging managers need to succeed
23:37 patience is key when you are a GP
Show notes:
Beezer Clarkson on Twitter | https://twitter.com/beezer232?lang=en
Sapphire Partners | https://sapphireventures.com/funds/sapphire-partners/
#OpenLP | https://openlp.sapphireventures.com/