.png)
What’s up, everyone? Today, we’re covering an interview that Lincoln Archibald had with The Frazier Group: How to shoot fish in a barrel!
The Frazier Group is an LP to 21 different venture capital and private equity funds and are 50% GP owners of Lumen Group.
Lincoln: Tell me about Frazier Group!
David Frazier: We started as my father’s family office in 1997. Although VC is difficult and risky, we have managed to implement robust investment strategies.
The core mantra of our business is shooting fish in a barrel, not throwing darts.
Most angel investors will write 50 huge checks and most of them flop. But, our strategy is different.
Our strategy is writing initial checks as small and as broad as we can, and then we aggressively pile on in just the few absolute best.
“80% of the companies we invest in are duds, but 80% of our cash ends up in our best companies.”
We have an extreme focus in “follow on” investments.
Another element to our success is forming a close relationship with the founders…
“If you don’t take the time to create a close relationship with them, then they will stop taking your money as soon as they can.”
Lincoln: Technically speaking, are these checks coming out of different funds? How does that work?
David: This doesn’t work for everyone, but the way we do it is doing all investments through the same fund in that timeline.
For example, if we had a fund going from 2022 to 2024, then it would include initial checks and “follow ons” altogether.
Then, as soon as the fund expires, that cohort has no right to follow ons or future expectations.
Lincoln: What’s Frazier’s Aum?
David: We probably have around $200 million of capital invested into private Utah companies.
Lincoln: I understand you started as a family office, so what made you want to start taking on outside capital?
David: We looked at our captial and thought, “If we had no contraint on the money we put into these deals, then how much could we take down?”
That number happened to be much greater than what the Frazier’s had in the bank, so it just made sense financially.
Lincoln: Are the secondaries in your fund GP led, where you’re initiating the secondary?
David: Yes, it’s mostly us initiating. We look at companies that seem to have turned the corner for success, but still hasn’t manifested itself yet.
We wait for those turnaround moments, and then we aggressively say, “How do we get more involved?
That’s how the Frazier Group shoots fish in a barrel instead of throwing darts at a board!
That’s all we’ll cover of the interview but click here to watch the rest or go listen to the “Funds that Won” podcast!
If you want help starting or scaling your own venture capital fund, then visit Fund Launch!
That’s it for today!
Thanks,
Want to get direct guidance for your fund? Schedule a time with my Fund Advisors!
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 author
