Yesterday I talked about Capdesk’s exit to Carta. This is how we found the deal.

Ben James attended an investor meeting for another portfolio company. He met a fellow investor, followed up with them and they shared their portfolio. In that portfolio was Capdesk. We followed up again, met the team and invested a small amount in a mini-round that ended up being just for us.

Later that year I met a friend for coffee in Canary Wharf. His friend had a new startup with one of the original founders of Capdesk, Casper Arboll, who was no longer with the business. I heard that, off the record, he might be interested in selling his share in Capdesk.

Eventually, Casper and I spoke and the following year we bought him out in a much larger investment size.

Thoughts:

There was hard work involved in Ben James following up in the first place.
There was a lot of luck that I heard about the opportunity.
There was a huge amount of work between hearing about the deal, talking to Casper for the first time, agreeing terms and getting the deal over the line with the support of Capdesk and its board.
Casper was great to deal with at all times.
Casper and I never met in person and this was pre-pandemic.
He has put the funds to good use and is now Chief Marketing Officer at Perenna who are a newly approved bank that offers 30-year fixed mortgages.
Casper and Perenna are doing great so this is a good news story all round.

I have Casper's permission to share this story.

Ask me anything.

#venturecapital #investing #startups #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic