This is awesome - best of luck with the new role. As someone who has just been through the UK cohort, I can confirm that Antler is certainly 'doing it the right way' or at least trying its absolute hardest which is great to see. Feels like a real partnership between founder and VC rather than an 'us' and 'them'.
Congrats Jeff Becker! Antler is done phenomenally well in the last couple of years and see you take up a GP is amazing add to the team. Looking forward for seeing some stellar companies coming out of Antler. WIshing best. !
One question has me puzzled, though... Considering back then you had: "No finance background, no experience building a software company from zero to one, no investing track record, nothing." How did you come to have such a clear and specific life goal, that had very little to do with the world you knew: "Early stage venture is broken. I want to work with founders, and I believe over time we can redefine success in pre-seed. I want to build the best pre-seed fund on the planet."
Thanks James! One thing I had found, managing sales teams, is all of the founders I knew had a similar issue--very little sales experience, but a need to gain traction. Initially, my hypothesis was to improve traction in the earliest stages by helping founders sell, which would de-risk companies and improve valuations. The operating partner roles within funds were still nascent, and I thought I could offer something traditional VC's couldn't--real support gaining traction. Over the years though, I've evolved my thinking on what is really needed in the early days
This is awesome - best of luck with the new role. As someone who has just been through the UK cohort, I can confirm that Antler is certainly 'doing it the right way' or at least trying its absolute hardest which is great to see. Feels like a real partnership between founder and VC rather than an 'us' and 'them'.
Congrats Jeff Becker! Antler is done phenomenally well in the last couple of years and see you take up a GP is amazing add to the team. Looking forward for seeing some stellar companies coming out of Antler. WIshing best. !
Great post Jeff - love it.
One question has me puzzled, though... Considering back then you had: "No finance background, no experience building a software company from zero to one, no investing track record, nothing." How did you come to have such a clear and specific life goal, that had very little to do with the world you knew: "Early stage venture is broken. I want to work with founders, and I believe over time we can redefine success in pre-seed. I want to build the best pre-seed fund on the planet."
Thanks James! One thing I had found, managing sales teams, is all of the founders I knew had a similar issue--very little sales experience, but a need to gain traction. Initially, my hypothesis was to improve traction in the earliest stages by helping founders sell, which would de-risk companies and improve valuations. The operating partner roles within funds were still nascent, and I thought I could offer something traditional VC's couldn't--real support gaining traction. Over the years though, I've evolved my thinking on what is really needed in the early days