Quo Vadis: Advertising Economic Forum Podcast

Quo Vadis: Advertising Economic Forum Podcast with Sim Blaustein

Episode Summary

On this episode of the Advertising Economic Forum Podcast, Sim Blaustein, discusses the creation of his new venture capital fund, 1745 Ventures, and offers a masterclass on the world of VC. The conversation covers everything from fund formation and the current fundraising climate to investment strategies in the face of disruptive technologies like AI.

Episode Notes

💡 Takeaways:

• 🤝 Importance of Relationships in Dealmaking: In a competitive investment environment, building strong, authentic relationships with founders can be crucial for securing an allocation in a desirable deal. 
• 💰 Limited Liquidity in the VC Market: The current venture capital market is characterized by a "drought of liquidity" due to fewer IPOs and M&A deals, which has limited the distributions that LPs (limited partners) receive from funds. 
• 💡 The "What to Make" Challenge: As AI makes content creation faster and more accessible, the strategic value is shifting from creation to decision-making. 
• ⚖️ Flexibility in Investment Strategy: Smaller venture funds can be more flexible in their approach to leading versus co-investing in deals. 
• 👔 Evolution of Key Hires: The needs of a startup change as it grows, meaning the roles of key leaders like a sales head or CFO also evolve. 
• 📉 Historical Aversion to Ad Tech: Historically, many VCs have shied away from investing in ad tech due to several factors, including the difficulty of competing with dominant players like Google, low barriers to entry leading to squeezed middlemen, and a shift in market valuations that favored SaaS revenue over advertising revenue.

📚 Chapters:

3:33: Fund Formation and Structure

7:43: General Partner Commitments and Fund Structure

9:46: Fundraising Strategy and Investment Thesis

14:14: Investing in AdTech vs. Martech

20:25: Deal Flow: Inbound vs. Outbound

28:27: Leading Investments vs. Co-investing

36:11: Qualities of Successful Founders

42:52: AI's Impact on Industry Stacks

🎙 Guest: Sim Blaustein

🎤 Host: Tom Triscari

📺 Sponsors: Anonymised & Yahoo!