My VC Adventure
When people ask me how I got into VC, I always say it’s because I was terrible at startups! But looking back, I’ve always just loved learning new things and building something different.
This was way back in 2000, right before the dot-com bubble burst. I was in Taiwan working on this idea for an e-commerce travel website – basically, a marketplace to connect travelers with local tours all over the world. It was a cool idea, and all the local tour agencies in the States I talked to were excited about it. But technologically, it just wasn’t feasible back then. Think about it: no cloud computing, no mobile internet, and cross-border payments were a nightmare. The costs were just too high, and it didn’t make financial sense.
Fast forward to 2008. I was in the US, had just finished business school, and the financial crisis was hitting hard. Luckily, I landed a job at a digital agency in Los Angeles. Web 2.0 and online video were starting to take off, and this company was trying to build a car fan community with professionally made car videos. My job was to put together the business plan and financial model to raise money. We didn’t make it through. Part of it was the financial crisis – it was incredibly tough to raise capital then. Plus, delivering high-definition video was still super expensive and consumer just weren’t willing to pay for it yet, so we needed that external funding to keep going.
My official venture capital journey kicked off in 2010 when I came back to Taiwan. Taiwan is pretty famous for hardware and semiconductors. Not so much for software and digital economy, which was what I was passionate about. But I got lucky. The venture firm I joined, as a junior investment manager – or “associate” as they call it in the US – was actually the venture arm of a government-backed non-profit dedicated to fostering the local software industry. Therefore, they focused on early-stage software investments, even when most other VCs in Taiwan thought software wasn’t worth funding.
From VC to Nano-Angel
One of the coolest parts of being a VC was meeting these passionate and talented founders. Slowly, some started asking if I was interested in making small investments. I discovered that being genuine and helping out built trust, and that trust made them think of me as their potential angel investor. Before I knew it, I was on the nano-angel path.
However, there were challenges. As a salary earner, I couldn’t invest big bucks. Additionally, scouting angel investment opportunities takes effort because I believe seed-stage investing requires building long-term trust. However, a person’s network and time are limited.
Lately, Taiwan’s got these angel clubs popping up. Angel investors pay a fee, join the club, and angel clubs bring in deals. But the bond between investors and founders is kind of shallow. For me, seed-stage investing is about more than money; it’s about forming real bonds with these founders. As an introvert, I feel anxious and drained of energy when participating in the social activities of angel clubs. This makes me wonder if there’s a better way for people like me to invest and connect.
A new way to invest in seed-stage
GPV (Good People Ventures) wasn’t just another business decision. I went from being a VC newbie to becoming a fund manager. When I left venture capital in 2019 and started dreaming of raising my own fund, I wanted more than just another VC fund. I dreamt of creating a replicable seed-stage investment model that would spread its influence across various industries and corners of the world.
And just like that, in 2020, GPV was born.