By: Ben Freeberg
IDEA Fund Partners, a seed and early stage venture fund based out of Durham, NC, gives first time CEO’s a platform to perform. All of IDEA’s largest successes are companies that had first time CEO’s at their helm.
John Cambier and Lister Delgado run the fund, and have been doing early stage investing together since 2003. With over 20 years working in the tech sector and extensive operational experience, the team is excited to find the next big company in the Southeast U.S. Matt Barber, their analyst, has been supporting the team in every regard for the past six years.
For VC’s:
IDEA Fund Partners is comfortable leading rounds, further, they prefer to be the lead or co-lead investor. They want to partner with other funds that believe that great entrepreneurs can be found, and great companies built outside of Northern California.
The team has invested alongside 60 venture / angel groups to date, and is excited to continue to syndicate each round to help find and build great companies.
The challenge IDEA has, like many early-stage VC’s today, is that the ultimate scale of financing gets so large that it can become difficult to stay involved throughout the lifecycle of the investment (enter Alpha Venture Partners). This pushes IDEA to seek out co-investors with funds whose post outcomes and definitions of success are consistent with theirs.
For Entrepreneurs:
Can you demonstrate some true indication of momentum in your business? Aside from the common necessities, getting a warm intro, knowing IDEA’s investment criteria and portfolio, and knowing your business inside and out, it is important to show the team that you have gained real traction in the market you are attacking. Share the metrics and unit economics you believe make a compelling case for that growth and momentum.
Next, IDEA Fund Partners likes to see some level of technological innovation around the business model and product. Bring that distinctive tech together with a sales-centric team of strong go-to-market individuals, and you have a good shot at catching IDEA’s eye.
Startup Spotlight:
IDEA Fund Partners invested in Pendo, a platform that combines tools for in-app feature engagement with product usage analytics to help product organizations deliver features that customers want and use, in January 2014.
IDEA immediately recognized Pendo’s strong management team, comprised of software startup veterans, including Red Hat’s first engineer as the CTO. Pendo helps firms understand how their product is used and how customers are engaging with their software.
Battery Ventures came into the company in 2015, leading a large Series A round. As Pendo continues to grow, at 200%+ per year, the company may very well be a candidate for a Series B raise sooner rather than later.
IDEA Fund Partners has helped Pendo, as well as many of their other portfolio companies, get connected to other good people as they build out their team. What IDEA does best is identify good teams and give them the support they need to grow, while staying out of their way enough to let them execute. Pendo is comprised of a mature team of founders, who quite frankly don’t need a lot of help, and IDEA is excited to continue to watch them grow.
Thank you to John Cambier and the IDEA Fund Partners team for assisting us with this blog post.