Startup Investing: Utilizing Storytelling, Building Resilience, and Leveraging Creativity, with Mac Conwell of RareBreed Ventures

Startup Investing: Utilizing Storytelling, Building Resilience, and Leveraging Creativity, with Mac Conwell of RareBreed Ventures

Justin Gordon talks with Mac Conwell, Managing Partner at RareBreed Ventures. Mac is a former software engineer and two-time founder. RareBreed Ventures is a pre-seed fund that invests in exceptional founders outside of large tech ecosystems, earlier than everyone else.

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Mac Conwell (@MacConwell), Managing Partner at RareBreed Ventures. Mac is a former software engineer and two-time founder. One of Mac's companies failed, the other went on to a successful exit. RareBreed Ventures is a pre-seed fund that invests in exceptional founders outside of large tech ecosystems, earlier than everyone else. They invest in 2 types of companies: those building a software product with a unique or clearly repeatable customer acquisition strategy or building a physical product in a vertical that has lacked innovation in 10+ years. This is because these two founders are out-of-the-box thinkers and problem solvers. Unlike other pre-seed funds, RareBreed takes a concentrated portfolio approach by writing checks of up to $250K as the first or one of the first investors.

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Website: RareBreed Ventures

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mckeever/

Twitter: @MacConwell

Show Notes

  • Mac’s thoughts on being a great storyteller
  • How Mac uses his story as his pitch to raise a fund
  • The journey that led him into VC
  • How Mac has the confidence to constantly bet on himself
  • Mac’s experience at rock bottom and building resilience
  • From dropping out of high school to having a 6-figure job at the age of 21
  • How Mac manages his time and priorities
  • Mac’s secret to using Twitter
  • What Mac looks for in the founders he invests in
  • How Mac evaluates customer acquisition at the pre-seed level
  • The value of creativity and how Mac leveraged it for customer acquisition as a founder
  • Some of Mac’s portfolio companies and their stories of grit
  • What’s next for RareBreed Ventures

More About the Show

The VITALIZE Podcast, a show by VITALIZE Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at VITALIZE Venture Capital, The VITALIZE Podcast features interviews with a variety of VCs, angel investors, and founders, with a particular focus on the future of work.

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