Ep.41 – Have You Got What It Takes To Be A Venture Capitalist?
Ever wanted to run your own VC fund but thought that was another world away? Well, Rob Vickery wants to not only connect a new level of VC focus to New Zealand innovation and help us go global, but also to encourage budding VCs here as well. His newly formed Hillfarrance Venture Capital fund has set aside a one million dollar fund which will select 10 would-be venture capitalists to invest up to 100 thousand dollars each in businesses they believe have the creds to become the next Xero or Rocket Lab.
This is in itself is a boost to the VC world here, but having Hillfarrance and Rob setup base here is a big deal full stop. Prior to creating Hillfarrance, Rob was the Founding Partner of one of Los Angeles’ most active enterprise software venture funds, Stage Venture Partners. At Stage he invested multiple rounds of capital into 23 seed stage companies from across the globe and raised three funds. He has served on the boards of Kuona, Spidr Tech and Storyblaster, and is a mentor at TechStars and Bunker Labs, a Global Ambassador for BAFTA, and an EHF Fellow.
Rob talks to us about what it takes to be a great investor and entrepreneur and how much potential there is in tech innovation here, but also in story telling and building businesses embedded with indigenous concepts of community and custodianship. If you think you have what it takes to be a VC yourself, check out: www.hillfarrance.com/scouts
