Rainmakers: featuring business development's elite
Rainmakers: featuring business development's elite
Interview with Bill Collier - Venture Capitalist Investor, Maryland Venture Fund
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Bill Collier networked his way into his venture capital position and uses his sales background to be successful in it.
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Guest - Bill Collier
Host - Carl Grant
Producer - Seth Grant
Welcome to rainmakers. I'm here with Bill C llier, director of the Maryla d venture fund. And Bill, you've got duties beyond your Maryla d venture funds. So why don't ou go ahead and give us the fu l scope of what you do.
Bill Collier:Thanks, Carl. Yeah, so I am the director of Maryland venture fund focusing on business development. And the same goes with the tedco Seed Fund, which is an earlier stage seed focused Fund, and the tedco builder Fund, which is the DNI focus fund. So super excited to support all three of those platforms.
Carl Grant:And so for our listeners who don't know what DNI is, it's diversity and inclusion. And this has become a big thing in the investment community, and a focus of a lot of funds. So appreciate you laying all that out for us, Bill. So Bill, venture capital is the hardest industry in the world to break into, as far as I know. So I imagine you had to do a bit of networking and getting to know the right people to break in. Tell us about how you went about doing that?
Bill Collier:Yeah, totally. So the the story that I had to share with with with my network, and the skills that I leveraged and leaned on to secure my role. were heavily in sales. Right. So right out of college, I had a SAS software sales role at the local startup called weddingwire. Extremely transactional role, closing three to five deals, deals a day, getting in front of people that may have not even heard of the product and closing them on the spot. In the reason why my current team was interested in having me join the team was because they needed someone who was going to pound the pavement, and get build pipeline and get deals in front of the team. In terms of how I got the role, it's actually funny, because I know we're going to touch on this later, Carl, but my wife was at a networking event at Cooley capital call event, and met a few team members from from Maryland venture fund. And that's how I got the role. I got had an introduction through my wife, and the rest is history.
Carl Grant:Well, so why don't we go ahead and skip ahead. So I think she also enlisted me to put in a good word for you at the time. So that's how this goes. We so in full disclosure, Angie Collier, who was on two previous episodes ago, is your wife and she is a connector. And so you've benefited from being married to a connector? So talk a little bit more about that. And do you just sponge off off of her relationships? Or do you actually go out and develop your own?
Bill Collier:I try? Look, it's a it's a symbiotic relationship, right? If it was one, if it was a one way street, it wouldn't, it wouldn't work out. And and no, we help each other. We put each other in contact and in touch with with warm leads. And try to support each other, the best we can from deal flow to introductions to supporting in helping execute projects. So it's actually really funny because the episode that you and Angie recorded, it kind of resonated with me because pre COVID we were out in events together. And I saw her you know, this is my wife, right? But she was your business development data. Exactly. Exactly. So she's my business development date my wingwoman. Right. And it would be like we would lay out the plan. You'd say, hey, I want to talk to this many people are I want to meet five net new companies tonight. And we're not leaving until we do that. Right?
Carl Grant:This is totally funny because this totally validates the whole thing. We talked about Angie and me, right? Yeah, geez. husband goes out as a BD date with her. So. So yeah, thanks for sharing. Yes, it's pretty funny. She's great. So and then you also involve my spouse in an event that you did some time back where you had her make a presentation. And so it's all in the family.
Bill Collier:Yeah, it's all in the family. And look, that's what it's all about, right? Growing that that ecosystem, knowing who the point people are and who you can point companies that needs specific and tailored support. You want to you want to, you want to put quality company and quality deals in front of quality people and be impactful on both ends, right. And that's how it kind of worked out with you, Jeannie. And Angie, it's all in the family and Carl the cherry on top is being able to work with network with and spend time with in a professional professional sense with people you enjoy being on to. Right so that just makes it that much more fun.
Carl Grant:Yeah, your wife is a blast to hang out with. So look, you've got to at the end of the day, you've got to show up with great companies to invest in them. And there's a lot of investors vying for those companies. How do you network to find those companies and and what do you do to make sure that you're in the flow?
Bill Collier:Good. Good question, Carl. It really comes down to just being out there in the market, being present being at events like, you know, coolly capital call that our staple events for the region, and now nationally, because you expanded it. And being there, making the connections, having the robust networking ecosystem built. So when someone says, hey, I've got a Maryland based tech company, who do I put them in touch with, I need to be top of mind for all of those players in the ecosystem, and be the automatic guy that they funnel those deals to. But if you're not out, and if you're not building your brand, and if you're not top of mind for people, then then you're gonna lose out on deals.
Carl Grant:And how do you stay in touch with those people? Because look, for the past year, most of us haven't been out. We've, because COVID we've been we've been left out. So how do you stay top of mind with those people?
Bill Collier:You know, what I like to do is set up either monthly or quarterly touchpoints with with my friends and colleagues and have zooms maybe even working lunches where over the lunch hour, we keep it really casual and catch up on everything from the latest and greatest on Netflix shows two deals that we're working on in having those touch points is extremely again, important for staying top of mind. Carl, should we redo that one? Because we had that background noise?
Carl Grant:Nah, don't worry about it. These happen all the time. So Bill, so you get a company, not all of them are a fit. And and you pass on some of them? Do you just pass you just say I don't like your company? Or do you try to find other places to send that company to generate? You know, goodwill?
Bill Collier:Yeah, great question, Carl. So look, I see me and my team see 1000s and 1000s of deals a year, we can only invest in a handful of them, maybe 10 to 15 a year, right. So a small percentage of everything we see. So what I like to tell companies and other investors as I help more companies, then the companies that I invest in, because if I if I only helped those that I'm cutting checks for I'm not doing my job. So what I tried to do is identify other, or ecosystem players, connectors, other investment funds that are good fit for those companies, and try to make a warm introduction. And I want to I want to double click on this a little bit, Carl, because a lot of it comes down to quality, right? Your brand. And when people think of you, you want to make sure that they they know that if you're sending them something that you did a little bit of diligence, a little bit of vetting, and you're sending them a quality lead. So that's something that I try to focus on a lot before making an introduction.
Carl Grant:Yeah, so bill, that that what you said reminds me of when I was back at PricewaterhouseCoopers, many years ago, this was back during the first internet boom. And we were seeing so many companies that it was, you know, it was crazy. I mean, everybody had, you know, you could get a web domain and raise $3 million back back in those days. And while most of those weren't, they weren't a fit, because because we only wanted to take on companies that could go public, right. And so almost everything that came to us was was a no. And so we had to come up with a way to just like you, you see 1000 companies, and you can how many investments you to do a year,
Bill Collier:Probably across all of the funds, let's say 12 to 18 to 20. 12 to 20 or so.
Carl Grant:Yeah. So you're saying a lot of nose, right. And so we were rejecting a lot of companies. And and we so we wanted to do it in a way that was nice. So we developed this, this big manual that, you know, because I had five interns working for me at the time, it was called the reject referral manual. And the new interns come on in and you know, learn like if we get a company that does this, but it doesn't, you know, doesn't quite have these characteristics, what to do with it, like who in the community could deal with these earlier stage companies. And we actually made a lot of good friends that Wait, and you'll be surprised how many came back later with their act together with a new company on a new management team or with an improved business plan. And it really paid to take the time to just not you know, brush them off. And so I take heart.
Bill Collier:Carl, Carl And I gotta tell you, that's been a story for us. Right? That's been a trend, if you will. So we've made two investments the last quarter. And we've known these entrepreneurs for two plus years. And it's exactly how you explained it. The first time we talked to them. They were a little early for us. They needed to work out some kinks. They needed to hone their strategy a bit. But over the last two and a half years or so we've really seen them improve. Got to know them in Watch them pivot in Excel. And we're happy to say that, hey, now's the right time to engage. And we actually made a few investments that kind of fit that, that storyline and profile. So it's great.
Carl Grant:That's a great story. And then also, you mentioned the diversity inclusion companies, right? So So these, these companies that are that are LED, say, by a black entrepreneur, or Hispanic entrepreneur, or a female entrepreneur, like, nowadays, investors really want to invest in these companies, right? It wasn't always this way. But what you're looking for these deals, and a lot of funds, like yours have a mandate to do these deals, but not every one of them is going to be a fit for you. Like, if you have one that's doing some services, businesses, not really a venture fit, but you want to take care of that entrepreneur, right? You don't want to just say no, right? So. So do you go out of your way to try to find what you know, especially with your diversity and inclusion, fun to find others that might be a fit, because there are other resources out there, you know, to do these things.
Bill Collier:Yeah, exactly. And what we aim to do is support all businesses, all technology based companies, businesses, entrepreneurs, despite background, we, we are here to help companies get to the next level. And like you mentioned, if if, for whatever reason, it's not a good fit for us, what I do is, I get on my LinkedIn and start to do a little bit of research and try to find who the right connector who the right potential fund is to support that entrepreneur. And outside of my three funds that I support, it tedco, we do have other programs that support entrepreneurs and companies and help them improve their pitch up them with strategy, help them with their their product roadmap. So outside of just the funding, Ted go has a lot of resources to support all entrepreneurs.
Carl Grant:So I noticed you're starting to take board observer roles, and pretty soon you'll be sitting on boards. So one of the things venture capitalists tried to do to differentiate themselves, because some of these situations are competitive, right, you may be trying to get a deal that another fund wants to get and, and so you're trying to show them that you're the better choice. So what kind of things do you do as a value add as a board observer today? And a future board member?
Bill Collier:Yeah, good question, Carl. So, again, yeah, we only take more types of roles. But some things that we try to do is give recommendations for potential other advisors or board members that could be value add to that company, right, because we are the most active investor in the region, we have a lot of those relationships, right. CEOs that have had prior exits, and successful mergers and acquisitions, other investors who have operating backgrounds who might be able to be helpful from an advisory or a board role, so making those connections is hugely value add, especially for those earlier stage companies. And that's what we look to do.
Carl Grant:Yeah, that's great. So we're coming out of the whole COVID era, at least, I'm in Texas, and how we're out of it, but you guys are coming out of it. How do you see the landscape being different? And what types of things do you see yourself doing over the next several months?
Bill Collier:Well, look, you know, the last year has been crazy, it's been a lot to adjust to a lot more virtual events, a lot more zooms and skypes and phone calls where, whereas I would just meet someone face to face for a coffee, or a lunch, or a drink. You know, people are getting their second shots. Now. My understanding is, especially in the region that some of these in person events on a smaller scale, are going to start opening up and start occurring again. This summer. So look, I'm looking forward to it. You know, I think it's a good thing. I think it's an important piece of, you know, a business development and someone who sources deals routine. And well, we'll see how it goes. But yeah, things are definitely starting to open up from from an events perspective up here. Which is, which is a breath of fresh air.
Carl Grant:Bill, what advice you have for a young person who wants to, you know, listen to you, they say I want to do that, what would you advise them to do now?
Bill Collier:You know what I think keep an open mind. Talk to as many people and network with as many people that are willing to speak with you and have that meeting with you. And also keep it light, keep it fun, right? Life is too short. You got to enjoy what you're doing and you got to try to work with people that you enjoy working with and spending time with, right? So when you have the conversations, let your personality shine through. And keep it keep it you know, keep it fun.
Carl Grant:That's great advice. Bill Collier. Thank you for joining me on Rainmakers. If you like what you heard today, please subscribe, please rate it and share it with your friends. Thanks, Bill.
Bill Collier:Thanks, Carl.