![]() He also suggests that because SPC’s network is so valuable, the venture firms that tend to make subsequent investments typically make room for SPC to maintain its percentage ownership rather than dilute it for their own shorter-term benefit.Ĭertainly, the formula appears to be working right now. ![]() Agarwal says that SPC typically invests anywhere from $700,000 to $2 million dollars for 7% to 10% of the company. According to Sanghvi, SPC’s new $150 million fund counts 100 members as investors.)Īs for the shape of those investments, it’s fairly standard. (Each member is also invited to invest in SPC funds if they like, and many take the firm up on this offer. When a community member does reach the fundraising phase, one agreement made early on is to give SPC the right of first refusal to invest. (Exploring ideas doesn’t always lead to starting companies.) Other things to know: members tend to work closely inside the community for nine months before “graduating,” meaning they’ve either raised more than a million dollars for a new startup concept, have more than four full-time employees, or they’ve taken a job. “We’re really like a learning community that helps people in the ‘negative one to zero phase’ get to the point of being able to start a company,” says Agarwal, “and if startups come out of that process, the fund invests.” It’s looking to capture people whose next move is simply to freely explore ideas, squishy though it might sound. See also The new space race is all about satellites: Pros and cons of each orbit Unlike a Y Combinator, which meets with nascent teams, or VCs who keep tabs on operational execs at big companies, SPC says its focused on capturing people who are plainly talented and probably much in demand but who, though they’ve left their last gig, aren’t immediately sure of their next move and mostly just want a little time to figure it out. According to Agarwal, upwards of 50% of the organization’s members find their cofounders or founding employees within the community, which underscores another way that South Park Commons sees itself as distinctive. The connections lead to more than friendship and fresh ideas, seemingly. “They want to hang out with the expert who beat the Stanford team on some AI algorithm, so having those operational experts mixed into the community is super valuable.” “The funny thing is that when you talk with a great entrepreneur and ask if they want to hang out with another entrepreneur, the answer is always ‘no,’” says Sanghvi, laughing. As for that membership, roughly 70% of SPC members are “technical,” says Sanghvi, though she adds that the other 30% are “domain experts or have operational expertise or are even academics.” That composition is very much by design.
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