Zach Coelius is the Managing Partner of Coelius Capital. Zach is a 4-time entrepreneur and now solo GP and who invests in early stage technology companies. We talked about why ideas are meaningless, demo day investing, platform risk, sniffing out product/market fit, B2B2C business models, and why Zach thinks ownership is overrated. This was a really fun, candid conversation
The episode is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, and YouTube Music.
Chapters
01:15 The Value of Validated Ideas
03:40 Finding Product-Market Fit
05:34 Identifying Weird Ideas
07:27 The Importance of Founder Experience
08:54 Exploring B2B and B2B2C Models
10:50 The State of B2B SaaS
11:50 Ad Tech: A Complicated Landscape
13:15 Navigating Platform Risk
19:27 The Google Monopoly Case
21:50 Zach Coelius' User Manual
22:49 The Drawbacks of Demo Day Investing
24:43 Investing Strategies: Pre-Seed to Series A
26:35 Changing Perspectives on Bitcoin
28:27 Scaling a Venture Firm
30:20 Challenging Conventional Views in Venture Capital
Takeaways
Validated ideas are crucial for startup success.
Product-market fit is essential and can be elusive.
Weird ideas can lead to scalable businesses.
Ownership in venture capital is often overrated.
Ad tech has potential despite its bad reputation.
B2B2C models can leverage customer acquisition effectively.
AI is reshaping the B2B SaaS landscape.
Platform risk is a significant concern in ad tech.
Governments may struggle to regulate cryptocurrencies effectively.
Scaling a venture firm requires a clear differentiation strategy.
The content here is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment, legal or tax advice. The opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not reflect the views of Seaplane Ventures. Our host, guests and clients may hold investments discussed in this podcast. Please invest responsibly.