Beezer Clarkson leads Sapphire Partners‘ investments in venture funds domestically and internationally. Beezer began her career in financial services over 20 years ago at Morgan Stanley in its global infrastructure group. Since, she has held various direct and indirect venture investment roles, as well as operational roles in software business development at Hewlett Packard. Prior to joining Sapphire in 2012, Beezer managed the day-to-day operations of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson Global Network, which then had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide.
In 2016, Beezer led the launch of OpenLP, an effort to help foster greater understanding in the entrepreneur-to-LP tech ecosystem. Beezer earned a bachelor’s in government from Wesleyan University, where she served on the board of trustees and currently serves as an advisor to the Wesleyan Endowment Investment Committee. She is currently serving on the board of the NVCA and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
You can find Beezer on her socials here:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beezer232
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethclarkson/
And huge thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Alchemist Accelerator: https://alchemistaccelerator.com/superclusters
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here.
Brought to you by Alchemist Accelerator.
OUTLINE:
[00:00] Intro
[02:57] Who was Beezer’s first mentor?
[06:57] How did Beezer get to work with the founder of eBay?
[10:45] The strength of diverse backgrounds
[14:11] How Hustle Fund convinced Foundry Group to invest in their fund
[15:27] Why should another venture fund exist in this world?
[19:41] What does proprietary “access” to deal flow mean?
[23:53] Superpowers on the Sapphire Partners team
[25:35] How does Sapphire resolve disagreements?
[27:11] Why does entire Sapphire team meet with GPs?
[28:18] A sneak peek into Sapphire investment process
[33:34] What does Sapphire look for in a pitch deck?
[34:58] The art and science behind Sapphire’s own portfolio construction
[43:37] How does Sapphire look at fund managers’ portfolio construction?
[47:50] Meaningful fund metrics in the first 5-7 years of a VC fund
[52:44] How to think about recycling
[56:15] What keeps Beezer humble?
[58:22] What is an investment opportunity Beezer missed because what she didn’t do?
[1:04:03] Thank you to Alchemist Accelerator for sponsoring!
[1:06:39] Legal Disclaimer
SELECT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- OpenLP
- Ellen Levy
- Omidyar Network
- Pierre Omidyar
- Paul Graham
- How to do Great Work by Paul Graham
- Chris Douvos
- How to think about LP Construction
- Eric Bahn
- Hustle Fund
- Foundry Group
- The Non-obvious Emerging LP Playbook
- Y Combinator
- Laura Thompson
- Nate Leung
- Docsend
- Pitchbook
- Sequoia Capital
- DPI (definition)
- TVPI (definition)
QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“It’s the access and why do the great people pick you that is much harder. And that speaks to what it is that you, the investor, are bringing to the table. There’s an LP-GP corollary to this too. The strongest GPs can pick their LPs, what gives the access from the LP side. So it’s a really different way of saying why are you so special. But it’s repeatable.”
“The good and the bad of being an LP is that you’re the peanut gallery to the show. So yes, a VC doesn’t exist unless LPs back them. The LPs are limited partners. We’re limited, which is there for a reason. You’re not driving the bus. There’s humility in that. I liken it to being a parent. There’s all sorts of things you take pride in in your kids. But at the end of the day, it’s your fund; it’s not me. You’re the one making the choices. The same way, it’s the entrepreneurs that make the companies.”
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