XYZ Venture Capital's Ross Fubini on VatorNews podcast

Why a founder's deep knowledge and expertise are the criteria to invest in

Bambi Francisco Roizen talks to Ross Fubini, founder and Managing partner at XYZ Venture Capital. XYZ focuses on fintech, enterprise and public sector (government). Many of the company’s initial investments stem from Ross’s relationship with Palantir, where Ross served as an advisor and executive coach. 

Highlights from the podcast:

 -- Fubini’s investment background at Kapor (early stage) and Canaan (multi-stage) taught him how to value founders with deep insight and experience to be able to execute swiftly.  While markets matter, execution solves a lot of problems, he said. 

-- By focusing on founders, as an investor, Fubini can back a lot of them with very diverse backgrounds. It’s not their pedigree but what they’ve accomplished. This is something to listen for as an investor.

-- XYZ invests $500k to $4 million in seed-stage startups. Fubini likes fintech, collaborative enterprise and public sector (government). Many of his investments (around 20) are from former Palantir employees helping the government transform its infrastructure (defense / healthcare). Across those sectors, Fubini likes companies that are the picks and shovels. 

-  The velocity with which deals are happening have accelerated. Fubini said he’s having to invest in deals from nine days since first meeting. So nine days from meeting to funding term sheet. 

- The pandemic has driven more people to become entrepreneurs! 

- Investing has become competitive and seed-stage deals are on average valued at $15 million, though there are still many that are $5 million.