“The line that sits for me is you got to pick well, you got to coach well, and then you got to finance well – and the financing includes the exit.” – Jeff Rinvelt
Jeff Rinvelt is a partner at Renaissance Venture Capital an innovative venture capital fund of funds. Jeff’s diverse background in venture capital and technology and his experience working in various start-up ventures uniquely position him to advise startups. In addition, Jeff is quite active in the Michigan start-up community, volunteering his time to mentor young entrepreneurs, judge pitch competitions, and guest lecture student classes and organizations. Through Jeff’s work on the Fund, his volunteer efforts, and his role as the chair of the Michigan Venture Capital Association’s board of directors, his passion for fostering a productive environment for venture capital investment in the State of Michigan is evident.
You can find Jeff on his socials here:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rinvelt
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rinvelt/
And huge thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Alchemist Accelerator: https://alchemistaccelerator.com/superclusters
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here.
Brought to you by Alchemist Accelerator.
OUTLINE:
[00:00] Intro
[02:28] When Jeff went from engineering to finance
[06:26] An introvert in an extroverted industry
[07:42] Jeff’s transition from founder to investor
[11:06] The need for a fund of funds in Michigan
[13:54] Why start a fund of funds instead of joining another fund
[15:32] The minimum viable fund size for a fund of funds
[21:46] Renaissance’s portfolio construction
[24:15] Why Renaissance measures GP performance by net IRR
[28:18] How does Jeff assess a GP’s portfolio construction model?
[31:20] Jeff’s stance on reserves
[34:39] Who is the exit manager?
[37:22] Should VCs be public market investors?
[42:43] What would Jeff do if he had evergreen capital?
[44:01] Do the best GPs in Jeff’s portfolio send the deck first or have the meeting first?
[45:11] Why is Jeff trying to break your heart?
[48:32] Thank you to Alchemist Accelerator for sponsoring!
[49:33] If you enjoyed the episode, please do share this episode with ONE other person you think would enjoy it.
SELECT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Renaissance Capital
- Season 1 Post Season: A Case Study on Why LPs Pass on Great Funds
- Martin Tobias
- Greycroft
- Menlo Ventures
- Sierra Ventures
- Techstars
- 5AM Ventures
- Netscape
- Sun Microsystems
- AOL
- Red Herring (magazine)
- Marc Andreessen
- Sam Valenti
- Chris Rizik
- Cintrifuse (Cincinnati)
- Houston Exponential
- Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained (Wisconsin)
- Jeff Tweedy
- Wilco
- Star Wars
- Jeff’s personal website
SELECT QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“Net IRR is the one that’s probably going to work. It takes a while for it to bake though – 5 or 6 years in.” – Jeff Rinvelt
“The line that sits for me is you got to pick well, you got to coach well, and then you got to finance well – and the financing includes the exit.” – Jeff Rinvelt
On portfolio construction models… “We are not in the Monte Carlo simulation game at all; we’re basically an excel spreadsheet.” – Jeff Rinvelt
“A lot of those skills [to be a fund manager] are already baked in. The one that wasn’t baked in for a lot of these firms was the exit manager – the ones that help you sell. […] If you don’t have it, there should be somebody that it’s their job to look at exits. ” – Jeff Rinvelt
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The views expressed on this blogpost are for informational purposes only. None of the views expressed herein constitute legal, investment, business, or tax advice. Any allusions or references to funds or companies are for illustrative purposes only, and should not be relied upon as investment recommendations. Consult a professional investment advisor prior to making any investment decisions.