My Day Job

A funny thing happened on the way to the Indie.vc application deadline…

I started receiving A LOT of emails from founders saying they loved the idea of the program but it wasn’t a fit for them for one reason or the other. This compliment was then followed by a sheepish pitch for what they were doing as if they had to apologize for asking if OATV might still want to invest.

Let me be very clear: OATV is still a blood sucking, value adding, exit optimized VC fund. Perhaps run with a bit more heart and soul. 

My day job is running the OATV playbook of making $500k to $2M seed and Series A investments in high growth founders who are interested in the well worn path of becoming a venture funded startup. That type of capital and those kinds of expectations aren’t for everyone. And that’s ok.

Indie.vc is an experiment. It’s one we’re really excited about, but it is not for everyone. It may not even work. It’s too soon to tell. And that’s ok too.

Even if Indie.vc doesn’t become a repeatable thing, what I hope it has done is tip our cards a bit as a firm to reveal more about who we are, what we value and the kinds of founders we’re most excited to work with. 

The DNA of OATV has always been to push back against the conventional wisdom of the VC model both in terms of types of fundable businesses and the instruments we fund them with. We were one of the very first seed funds who helped name and shape the category. People thought the idea of seed funding was so bad when we were getting started it took us nearly 2 years to raise our first fund. 

Turns out we were onto something and those who took a risk on us early have seen that risk pay off.

As a firm, OATV is very comfortable being misunderstood and underestimated.

But, make no mistake about it: OATV is open for business. We’d love to hear what you’re working on even if it isn’t a fit for Indie.vc.