Seattle needs more founders trying to hit home runs.
That’s the word from Kyle Lui, a longtime Silicon Valley venture capitalist who recently moved to Seattle and is a general partner at Bling Capital.
Lui tells GeekWire he’s loving Seattle’s startup scene so far, describing it as “collaborative” and “under-invested.”
But he’s noticed something stark about the region’s entrepreneurs, especially compared to founders in the Bay Area.
“I think the biggest challenge to the Seattle ecosystem is the breadth of ambition of the founders here,” Lui said.
Founders in the Valley tend to start a company with hopes of being a global leader in a particular industry, he said. “Success for an entrepreneur in the Seattle ecosystem might be a more modest M&A outcome,” Lui said.
He said New York City also has a similar shoot-for-the-stars vibe.
Some believe the more muted and realistic entrepreneurial mindset often found in Seattle can prove to be an advantage, particularly during downturns.
But that could also stunt the growth of unicorns, or billion-dollar companies — something the Seattle market is certainly lacking, at least relative to other top tech markets.
Others share a similar sentiment.
Speaking at a Technology Alliance event last month, Graham & Walker founder Leslie Feinzaig said Seattle founders “need a little bit more sizzle” in their pitches. Her firm mainly invests outside the region, and she’s noticed a difference in the delivery of other founders.
Lui said Bling specifically looks for founders that have big visions with venture-scale opportunities.
“We always ask the founder: what’s the path to getting to $100 million and $500 million in gross profit?” Lui explained. “How many customers do you need paying you? What percentage of the market does that represent?”
Ben Ling, a former general partner at Khosla Ventures, founded Bling in 2018. The firm is backing early stage startups out of a $212 million fund. A unique aspect of Bling is its specialization on helping founders find product market fit.
Ling and Lui have known each other for decades. Ling was the first angel investor in Lui’s startup, ChoicePass, a corporate perks and employee rewards platform that was acquired by Salesforce in 2012.
Lui spent a few years at Salesforce and later joined DCM Ventures, a Silicon Valley mainstay that invests in tech companies across the world. He helped lead DCM investments in companies such as DocSend, Hims & Hers, Shift, and others. Lui left DCM in 2022 to join Bling as a general partner.
Bling allocates about two-thirds of its cash to B2B enterprise software startups.
The firm mainly focuses on the Bay Area and New York City, but also invests in companies based across North America.
That includes Seattle, where Bling recently invested in Loti, a new startup that helps public figures find deepfakes.
Lui hopes to make investments in his new hometown, where he lives with his partner and 6-month old son.
“My goal is to do more deals in Seattle,” he said.
A trend Lui is watching closely is layoffs and hiring pullbacks at tech giants, combined with interest from longtime corporate tech employees in making the startup leap.
“I think we’re finally at a place where folks are like, the best option for me is not necessarily to try to become a VP at an Amazon or a Microsoft, but to actually go and start something,” Lui said. “And there’s enough of that happening here that I’m very excited about Seattle as an ecosystem.”
https://ift.tt/1mt5iSu July 17, 2024 at 02:00PM GeekWire
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