FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Entrepreneurs

We actively invest in talented entrepreneurs at the earliest stages. Our typical first round investment is $1-2M for a meaningful equity stake, with up to $10M per company reserved for follow-on rounds. We invest from our own balance sheet and have no pressure to get liquidity before the entrepreneurs wish to (our favorite holding period is forever).

We look for customer obsessed founders who are committed to building something exceptional. We aim to be the most founder-friendly investor on your cap table, and we back it with actions, including assigning our voting rights to the founder.

What qualifies as a Trifecta investment?

01
The company is Customer obsessed
02
Run by talented entrepreneurs we trust and admire
03
The expected value meets our target return profile

Work with
Exceptional People

We play long-term games with long-term people. We value Customer obsessiveness, competence and truth. We maintain an unusually high bar and avoid “spraying and praying”. We only invest in extremely talented entrepreneurs we trust and admire and are willing to dedicate considerable effort to helping any way we can.

Our simple process of investing

01
We get to know the entrepreneur. (Days 1-3)
Initially a phone / zoom call. If we believe it’s a match we quickly invite the entrepreneur to spend 2-3 days with us. We spend a sufficient amount of time together for them to get to know us and see if they think we can add sufficient value and if we are the types of people they would want to have on their cap table. We gain an understanding of how they think and work. This process typically takes place at the entrepreneurs office or at our office in Hong Kong, it’s a 2-3 day intense collaboration where we aim to add as much value as possible to the entrepreneur whether we decide to invest or not.
02
We get to know the business. (Days 1-10)
If it’s an industry we know well, we focus on the internal metrics of the company at hand. If it’s an unknown industry for us, we do a rapid study of the market, the competitors and the key technologies likely to affect the market over the coming 5 years. We ask for read access to various reports of the entrepreneur and conduct basic lightweight due diligence.
03
We make a fair offer and draft the paper work. (Days 3-30)
As former entrepreneurs, we understand how distracting a fundraising process can be. We aim to keep the distractions to a bare minimum. Our Customer is the entrepreneur and we treat them that way.

FAQs

How early is ‘early stage’?

We aim to be the first outside investor. Our ideal stage is pre-seed or seed. Our ideal investment size is $1M-$2M for a meaningful equity stake.

I’ve raised some money from angels - can I still reach out?

Absolutely, some of our investments have been after a small round with angels or friends and family. Having said that if you’ve raised more than a few million dollars already, we’re probably not a good fit as we aim to get in early.

Do you have a industry or area focus?

No - while it’s true that our investments have mostly been in e-commerce, mobile apps, AI, and consumer goods and brands, we are chronically curious across many other areas as well. We weigh heavier our thesis around the specific entrepreneur’s potential than the industry they are currently operating in.

Do you have a geographic focus?

We are geographically agnostic.

What’s the most important thing in your decision making process?

The entrepreneur. We look for founders that we trust and admire who are able to execute rapidly and believe in treating their Customers how they would want to be treated themselves. We believe in playing long term games with long term people - on occasion we have been known to invest even in a terrific entrepreneur pre-idea.

What else do you look at?

The expected value meets our target return profile.

How much do you usually invest?

We typically like to invest between $1M to $2M.

Do you have strict ownership requirements?

Our ideal ownership is 20% post investment.

Do you have to be the lead investor in the round?

We do both. We are happy to lead rounds when it’s the right fit, and equally happy to participate alongside another lead. What matters most is having a meaningful stake in the companies we invest in, so we can justify investing significant time and energy helping the founders.

What makes Trifecta different?

We’re a proprietary investment firm, meaning that we invest our own funds from our own balance sheet. This means that we are able to offer permanent capital and be perfectly aligned with the founder on when to get liquidity. This contrasts with traditional VC/PE firms with funds that need to return capital to LPs typically within 7-10 years. For an entrepreneur raising money from an investor, the investor might be pushing them to sell the company prematurely so that the fund manager can get their maximum fee and avoid penalties on their fees for returning capital after a certain date. When we invest in an entrepreneur, they know that they wont be forced into a liquidation event just because our managers are chasing higher carry. We quite literally have aligned incentives with the entrepreneur. For a wonderful business, our favorite holding period is forever. We’re also operators, and we think that we’re better investors for it.

If you are an early-stage entrepreneur looking for an investor, get in touch with us below.

William Wolfram

MANAGING PARTNER

william@trifecta.vc