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How’s it going, everyone? Today, we’re covering some highlights from the interview Lincoln Archibald had with Trent Mano about investing in early-stage start-ups!
Click here to listen to the whole interview!
Trent Mano is the GP of Convoi Ventures, a VC firm that focuses on writing checks to Utah founders early and often. It also strives to create the best network of fellow early stage founders, later stage mentors, and investors at pre-seed and later stages (See LinkedIn).
What is Convoi Ventures?
Lincoln: Let’s start by hearing the elevator pitch on Convoi!
Trent: Our mission is to find and fund Utah’s next breakout start-ups. We aim to be the first check given to promising tech companies in Utah. SaaS and fintech make up about 70% of our investments. We’re just about done deploying our first ‘proof of concept’ fund. We started it about 2 years ago.
Average Check Size and Investment Strategy
Lincoln: What does your average check size look like?
Trent: We’ve done 38 investments, for a sum of $7 billion, and our average check is anywhere from $25K to $250K. We’re targeting around 2-3% equity in the companies we invest in. Half of the time, we are the first-check investors and that is our preference. The rest of the time, if we co-invest alongside another VC firm, we typically let them lead and follow the terms they set.
Lincoln: What are your expectations for your investments as a VC firm?
Trent: We model for about a 60% failure rate and another 25% breaking even. Fortunately, out of our 38 investments, we’ve had 10 markups!
Expectations & Journey
Lincoln: What led you to start Convoi?
Trent: My path has been non-traditional. I started as a financial adivsor, and all of my clients were start-up founders. I didn’t make a lot of money there, but I met so many people and developed great relationships. My first client to exit is now my current business partner! We did so much business together that finally, a few years ago, we decided to start a fund together.
Lincoln: What does your business look like after launching only one fund?
Trent: Very quickly, we had a team of about 5 people who were software engineers, developers, and founders who wanted to dip their toes into VC. It was unique because they were all successful and engaged in other endeavors, so they only worked part-time and I was the only person on payroll!
Conclusion
That’s all we’re covering today on investing in early-stage start-ups! We can see that having great mentors and a specific investing strategy can prove to be a success, even if your career path seems non-traditional!
Click here to listen to the rest of the “Funds that Won” podcast!
If you need help starting or scaling your own venture capital firm, visit Fund Launch! Or, if you simply want to learn more about related content, visit the Fund Launch Blog!
Thanks for stopping by,
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DISCLAIMER: This content is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not to be taken as tax, financial, or legal advice. You should always consult a legal professional before taking action. Furthermore, this is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. The content is solely just the opinion of the authors.
