Click here to download a PDF detailing the process for submitting a proposal.
If you are interested in obtaining funding from Vision 2020 LLC, please click on “Submit a Proposal” and then:
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Once you have registered, answer the questions and submit the appropriate financial information along with full resumes (not single paragraph summaries) of key founders to Vision 2020 LLC.
Please remember that our area of focus is information technology and its convergence with nanotechnology. We do not encourage submissions from industrial or consumer product companies.
The information provided in AngelSoft data base should contain the following information:
- Investment Size and Structure Requested
- Description of the Product or Service
- Brief History of the Company
- Business and Marketing Strategy
- Analysis of the Market and the Competition
- Full Resumes of Key Management (Highlighting Industry and Market Expertise)
- Current Financial Statements and Projections
- Pre and Post funding valuations
The content of the AngelSoft document should be a working document for the company, used in long-term planning, and not simply a sales tool for fundraising. Once we have evaluated your online proposal we may request hard-copy business plans with a copy on a CD, as opposed to e-mail submissions. It may take up to three weeks for us to get back to you because we review all submissions that we receive.
We do not sign NDAs. We receive so many plans each week, that if we signed every NDA request, we would quickly be swamped with legal documents. Our reputation depends on our professionalism and our ability to maintain the trust of the entrepreneurs with whom we work. We will take care to keep your materials confidential.
Please remember that our fund’s focus is
Industry Focus
• Technology
• Information Technology and its convergence with nanotech
• Healthcare / Life Science / Medical Instruments
• High-tech manufacturing / Business Services
Stage
• Seed/Start-Up
• Early Stage
• Growth Stage
Geographic Area
• Southeastern United States
Christopher Campbell, CEO
Let’s talk about Submitting a Business Plan for a Private Equity Investment!
Q: What sectors are of interest to venture investors today?
A: Venture investors should be investing in a host of emerging technologies, including Information Technology, Nanotechnology and Life Sciences, and Clean and Green Energy Technologies. We are personally interested in various Internet opportunities. Anything that takes advantage of the fact that hundreds of millions of people are connected to the Internet. These include: Peer to peer technologies, Social networking, Viral marketing opportunities, Pyramid marketing, Spam blocking, Email advances, Instant Messaging, Videophones, IP telephony, etc. We also have an interest in energy alternatives, including solar, battery, fuel cells, nuclear fusion, etc. Vision 2020 LLC has also taken a leadership position in funding and promoting nanotechnology. We are interested in new advances in the science of nanotechnology, including new memory devices, quantum computers, solar devices, new materials, medical and drug advances and devices.
Q. Why is understanding past performance such a strong indicator of future performance in the venture capital business?
A: Someone who has been a top performer or understands an industry over the past 10 years is likely to be a top performer. They have that special knowledge that allows them to be better than everyone else. You see they can put up long term track records that are consistently better than the average investor in their asset class.
Successful investors create an aura of success around them and their firms. It's true of firms like Blackstone, TPG, KKR, and Providence in the buyout business and it's true of firms like Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, and Matrix in the venture capital business. Successful deals are associated with the firms that were the primary backers. The success of the deals builds the firm's brand. And entrepreneurs want that brand association as much as they want the money that comes with it.
Q. Why are so many of the successful venture capital firms focused on early stage investment?
A: First to market enables us to gain that special knowledge that allows us to be better than everyone else. Successful venture capital firms are often the first institutional money into an investment, the way Kleiner and Sequoia were in Google. Getting that place in the capital structure in an early stage investment is important because it provides access to the management and business that later round investors don't get. Look at the role Accel now has at Facebook. They are involved deeply in the strategic and business decisions that the management of Facebook makes. Accel will certainly understand how social advertising is developing better than most of us on the outside.
What comes with that kind of access is a level of knowledge and understanding about an emerging market that you just cannot get sitting on the outside looking in. These insights are incredibly valuable and should lead to a host of additional investments.
Q. Another effect of this close association with portfolio companies is management talent.
A: Look at PayPal. The PayPal alumni network is legendary, having spawned dozens of companies, many of them leading venture investments in the past five years. If you were an early and significant investor in PayPal, as Sequioa was, then you'll know all these talented entrepreneurs and ideally will be able to back them before others get the chance.
A related aspect of this management issue for Vision2020 is the subject of "franchise entrepreneurs". Because of our network of experienced entrepreneurs and with entrepreneurial teams we will use their talents again and again. We have that kind of relationship with several of the teams. So you can see that there is a virtuous cycle of knowledge and relationships that come from being one of the best venture capital firms. Good deals and good teams lead to more good deals and good teams. It's frankly hard to screw it up.
Q: What's the best way for an entrepreneur to make the initial approach to a venture capital investor?
A: Go online (Submit a proposal) and provide tell us about your unique opportunity as soon as possible. There is no need to come with an introduction. Your answers to the questions in the AngelSoft data base should be clear and concise. Every detail is not necessary. Full resumes should be included in the executive summary. A full discussion of competition is also very important to us. Entrepreneurs in technology companies must know their competition. Technology companies must constantly be aware of the competitive world around them.
Q: What do investors look for in a business plan?
A: A clear understanding of the business. How do you plan to make money? How much money is required? Why is your company unique? Why can it overcome much larger and better financed competition? What does the competition look like, both startup and large company competition? Who are the people in your team? What are their complete backgrounds? What is the company going to focus on?
Q: How seriously do investors take the business plan?
A: Very seriously. The business plan includes your business model, your team, your competition, all of which can be the difference between success and failure in business.
Q: Which sections of the business plan are the most interesting for investors?
A: The people are the most important. As we like to say, “We invest in the jockey not the horse!” The business model is often very critical. The competition discussion is always important. We understand that the best people can overcome almost anything. We also believe that a large market, and large margins can be somewhat forgiving.
Q: What should entrepreneurs consider when preparing an investor presentation?
A: It should be thorough, and detailed, but very flexible. We often ask so many questions to truly understand the goals of the entrepreneurs. Prepare for anything. At the Florida Venture Forum a presenter is allow just 12 minutes to clearly state their message. Start from the beginning. Some partners will not have read the plan before coming into the meeting. Also, be prepared to see the various partners move in and out of your presentation, where you may have to give the pitch multiple times. Remember that at Vision 2020 LLC we look at entrepreneurs as our partners. We recommend that the entrepreneurs go into our meetings thinking about becoming our partner.
Q: At what stage should an entrepreneur consider approaching a top-tier venture capital investor?
A: They should approach Vision 2020 LLC immediately. We like to help a company from the very beginning. Some of the early business planning can be the most important to the company's long term success.
Q. Finding Venture Capital is that the ultimate answer for success?
A: Experience shows that most venture backed investments are successfully because of a quality business plan. In contrast most venture backed investments fail because the venture capital is used to scale the business before the correct business plan is discovered. That scale/burn rate becomes the cancer that kills the business.
On the other hand businesses that don’t have the benefit of venture capital backing, the reverse is probably true. Almost certainly non-venture backed businesses will not have the ability to get too big too fast. They will mostly fail because they have the wrong business plan and they don’t have the wherewithal to survive for the period of time it takes to figure out the correct one.
Regardless of whether you take venture capital or not, capital efficiency and bootstrapping are critical values. You must keep your burn rate low until you can show without a shadow of a doubt that you have a business model that works, can be operated profitably and is ready to be scaled. Then and only then should you step on the gas.
Vision 2020, LLC
Summit East Technology & Research Park
1650 Summit Lake Drive, Suite 1012
Tallahassee, Florida 32317