In this new podcast series, co-produced by vegconomist, Alex Shandrovksy interviews investors about benchmarks for funding alt proteins in 2024 and uncovers the investment playbooks of successful Climate Tech CEOs and Leading VCs.
Podcast Host Alex Shandrovksy is a strategic advisor to numerous global food tech accelerators and companies, including leaders in alternative protein and cellular agriculture. His focus is on investor relations and post-raise scale for agrifood tech companies. Episode one from last month can be found here.
Episode 02: Blue Horizon’s Robert Boer
In this episode, Alex talks to Robert Boer, director at Blue Horizon Corporation, a leading investment fund in alternative proteins. During the conversation, Robert shared the top mistakes founders make when approaching the fund and best practices for getting funded.
Key Facts, Blue Horizon
- Mission: Our mission is to accelerate the transition to a Sustainable Food System that delivers outstanding returns for investors and the planet.
- Preseed-A Growth Fund
- Preseed: $50K-$500K
Alex’s Top Findings:
- VC will answer to cold outreach, but do your homework first. It has to be relevant to the Thesis. Don’t ask to fund a fish farm if the VC Thesis is reducing animal cruelty.
- Qualify the VC: 9/10 times, the founder asks no questions of the VC. What kind of Board role do they want, how will they offer value, do you lead or follow, what is the check size, how far are you in the fund size- Ask questions to qualify if the VC is a fit.
- Make sure you leave 3-5 minutes at the end of the meeting to agree on the next steps and clarify anything that is unclear. What are their next steps? How long does the process take? Are you interested in moving forward?
- When should a founder shut it down? Having advisors who give you real feedback is crucial. It is another sign that it does not work with angels or family. If you are impact-driven, you can take another model not funded by VC. Redefine how you can get to your ultimate goal.
- 2024 as the year of M&A: Look to merge with another company that is congruent with your mission and fills in each other gaps. Position your fundraising with the opportunity of buying another company’s assets or IP.
This podcast is sponsored by SWARM- The Swarm gives companies and investors the keys to their networks and the business relationship data they need to grow. Use theswarm.com/alex for a 25% discount.
