Happy Sunday folks! The trend of alternative capital providers popping up all over the world to fund more and different startups or SMBs is almost boring now - it’s so first half of 2021 (kudos to you, dear readers, for being the trendsetters!). Because of the emergence of all of these new investors and investment models, I’m thinking a lot lately about how the industry will develop and how we as a group can help guide its trajectory. To that end, I wanted to share some ideas that I’ll go a little deeper on in subsequent newsletters. 

The Association.
We all agree on this by now, but I think it’s time to develop an association for alternative capital investors. As association that brings together investors in the space will help guide the development of this industry, and ensure that basic guidelines, standards, and ethics exist, and help to advocate for our cause with our local and federal legislators. Like many of you, I often worry about some of the new investment structures I see out there, and how they might appear to be helpful in the near term, but that appear to drain cash from a company’s balance sheet very quickly.  This is less about standardizing terms, as the more I think about that the more I think it hampers innovation, and more about developing a professional association centered on key principles and goals that guide the industry with an entrepreneur-first ethos.

An Accelerator / Fellowship / Training Ground.
Think Kauffman Fellows for alternative capital investors. I was lucky enough to be a part of Class 20 of the Kauffman Fellows Program, and it completely changed my trajectory and the way I thought about creating a fund that could truly impact the companies I wanted to help. It altered how I approached my work, equipped me with insights and skills I needed to succeed as a fund manager, and surrounded me with an incredible network of people who were genuinely interested (and able) to help. It’s an incredible program and network, and building a similar community or program or accelerator for alternative capital investors would propel individual investors - and in turn this entire industry - forward. A program like that for our community would equip investors large and small with the tools and network they need to succeed.

I hope you're excited as I am to begin work on these projects - we will all begin rolling up our sleeves soon and I welcome any advice, help, resources or feedback at this point.  You know where to find me.