John Fein and Chris Marks of Firebrand Ventures // why two venture firms merged to become one [CC065]

Show Notes

Interview begins: 8:54
Debrief: 45:54

John Fein and Chris Marks are the managing partners of Firebrand Ventures.

John started Firebrand Ventures in 2016, and we interviewed him in 2018.

Prior to founding Firebrand, John served as Managing Director for Techstars, a leading startup accelerator with over 40 programs around the world. While at Techstars he ran three accelerator programs in Kansas City and invested in 30 startups. Companies that have gone through Techstars programs have raised a total of over $9 billion in funding and have a collective market cap of over $25 billion.

Prior to Firebrand, Chris was the Founder and Managing Partner of Blue Note Ventures, an early-stage venture fund investing in great technology companies and serving entrepreneurs committed to authentic leadership.

After co-investing in several companies together out of their respective funds, it became obvious that Chris and John not only shared a similar investment strategy, but also an underlying set of values around how they partnered with entrepreneurs. In late 2019 they decided to join forces and merged Firebrand and Blue Note.

Key points:

• Disenchanted in the venture space 10:16
• Firebrand and Blue Note starting together 14:19
• Similar Values and investment approach 16:08
• Merging ventures 17:34
• Is there such a thing as good and bad timing? 21:22
• Fund economics change 34:22
• Preset framework for conflict 42:16

Follow John Fein and Chris Marks:

 - https://www.firebrandvc.com/team-members/john-fein 

 - https://www.firebrandvc.com/team-members/chris-marks 

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