October 4, 2020
Why partner with QED?
We prove our worth – Before investing in a company, we invariably have spent months working with them, making introductions, and helping solve them overcome the challenges they face.When it comes time for them to raise money, they have a deep understanding of the value we can add.
.9 to the power of 6 – Having builtCapital One and now made more than 100 investments over 12 years, we have tons of data points on the speed bumps Fintechs face. Say companies face at least six challenges that could cause them to fail – for example, not understanding unit economics, attracting and retaining senior talent, managing misaligned investors, compliance issues, fundraising, ignoring culture, and founder/CEO issues. Even if the best leaders have a 90% chance of overcoming early challenges, they are contingent on each other. The odds of overcoming them all can become daunting.We help our companies through these. By eliminating even a few of them, our companies’ chances of success increase dramatically. Being former operators, we have made many of these mistakes ourselves and are uniquely qualified to support founders throughout this learning process. By the way, .9^6 = 53%.
An exclusive club – Our portfolio is an exclusive club of Fintech specialists. Between our team and our companies, we have faced almost every challenge a new company will face on its path to scaling. Our CEOs have so many opportunities to learn, examples to follow, and mentors to learn from. One way we bring together our CEOs is through our annual CEO Summit – two days of learning and networking each year.
Our Network – While building Capital One, we developed deep, long-term relationships with banks. This network has been enormously valuable to our companies. Not only do we introduce them, but we make sure they are connected to the right people and we help them navigate their relationships with banks to make sure they are mutually beneficial. Often, these banks have unique assets and skills that benefit our investments.
Loyalty – We stay with our CEOs through good times and bad, even when other investors are tempted to give up.Many VCs lean into their winners and go dark on everyone else. As former operators, that is not in our DNA. When our companies face problems, we dive in and try to solve them. It can be lonely at the top when things don’t go according to plan.
We prove our worth – Before investing in a company, we invariably have spent months working with them, making introductions, and helping solve them overcome the challenges they face.When it comes time for them to raise money, they have a deep understanding of the value we can add.
.9 to the power of 6 – Having builtCapital One and now made more than 100 investments over 12 years, we have tons of data points on the speed bumps Fintechs face. Say companies face at least six challenges that could cause them to fail – for example, not understanding unit economics, attracting and retaining senior talent, managing misaligned investors, compliance issues, fundraising, ignoring culture, and founder/CEO issues. Even if the best leaders have a 90% chance of overcoming early challenges, they are contingent on each other. The odds of overcoming them all can become daunting.We help our companies through these. By eliminating even a few of them, our companies’ chances of success increase dramatically. Being former operators, we have made many of these mistakes ourselves and are uniquely qualified to support founders throughout this learning process. By the way, .9^6 = 53%.
An exclusive club – Our portfolio is an exclusive club of Fintech specialists. Between our team and our companies, we have faced almost every challenge a new company will face on its path to scaling. Our CEOs have so many opportunities to learn, examples to follow, and mentors to learn from. One way we bring together our CEOs is through our annual CEO Summit – two days of learning and networking each year.
Our Network – While building Capital One, we developed deep, long-term relationships with banks. This network has been enormously valuable to our companies. Not only do we introduce them, but we make sure they are connected to the right people and we help them navigate their relationships with banks to make sure they are mutually beneficial. Often, these banks have unique assets and skills that benefit our investments.
Loyalty – We stay with our CEOs through good times and bad, even when other investors are tempted to give up.Many VCs lean into their winners and go dark on everyone else. As former operators, that is not in our DNA. When our companies face problems, we dive in and try to solve them. It can be lonely at the top when things don’t go according to plan.