Ascend Founder Profile: Scott Case - Recurrent

June 11, 2022

This is a series of real talk blog posts meant to let founders share a bit about themselves and their companies without the marketing jargon and “killing it” puffery of most tech startup profiles.

What does your company do, for who, in plain English please!

Recurrent helps electric vehicle owners and shoppers understand batteries when they buy and sell EVs.

What's a typical day like for you, from wakeup ‘til bed?

6:45 - 7:45 -- The breakfast/dog/school drop-off scramble

8:00 - 4:00 -- A potpourri of Zoom meetings from home and trying not to sit at the computer for too long at once. Sometimes I try to see other humans outside of my family and the Zoom screen for dog walks or lunch or runs. I'm getting better at making time to eat in the middle of the day.

4:00 - 8:00 -- My favorite thing about work-remote is having the flexibility to be home and present for the afternoon to hang out with my 11-year old. The tyranny of the 9-5 work day + commute meant that I didn't get to spend that time with family pre-pandemic.

8:00 - 9:30 -- Finish work if needed, doing lower-priority stuff like filling out this questionnaire :)

What keeps you up at night?

Staying up too late at my computer doing things like filling out questionnaires :)

What brings you joy?

Running, gardening and board games with friends. Social interactions outside work are so much more important now!

What is one word you hate to hear?

Mayonnaise

What is one word you love to hear?

Done

What was your biggest failure in the past year?

I got a little lost on the #2 job a startup CEO has -- making sure the rest of the team has really clear alignment on strategic direction -- while I was focused on the #1 job a startup CEO has (see next question). That meant some extra wasted time where everyone wasn't working with intent on the highest priorities for the company.

What was your greatest accomplishment in the past year?

Got our $4.5M raise done in April, in a choppy venture market. #1 job of a startup CEO = don't run out of money. Check.

Who or what inspires you most?

The students and graduates of Ada Developers Academy, overcoming so many barriers to get there and then thrive as software engineers in the tech industry.

What's your best tool for managing stress?

A great "To Do" list (I love Any.do), and plenty of cardio exercise.

What's getting the most burn on your playlist right now?

Cold Heart - PNAU Remix from Elton John and Dua Lipa.

Favorite shoes?

Brightly colored adidas sambas - my favorite pair is kelly green with bright orange stripes.

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Sourdough culture for weekly bread bakes and crackers (yum).

Ascend Portfolio Founder Dinner - March 2022

April 11, 2022

Incredible to celebrate 3 years of Ascend with some of our awesome founders. We’re blessed to work with the best!

Seattle VC Profile: Andy Liu, Unlock Ventures

January 17, 2022

When I started Ascend in 2019, I realized even though I was o-l-d OLD, I had more in common with the folks in town who were earlier in their professional investing journeys than the venerable VC’s I’d pitched as a founder. I admire and respect the new wave of Seattle/Pacific Northwest venture capitalists, and thought it would be fun to profile some of our region’s up and coming VC talents in these pages. —KW

Andy Liu of Unlock Ventures is a founder’s founder. His track record raising venture, exiting his two startups, and angel investing prolifically, combined with a poker master’s love of the game, makes Andy unique in the Seattle ecosystem.

What made you decide to be a professional investor?

I get fired up helping entrepreneurs achieve their goals and dreams.

What did you do before becoming an investor and how does that benefit your founders?

I started and exited two venture-backed companies and can empathize with the entrepreneurial journey. Learned a ton of good and hard lessons along the way.

What are your most successful investments so far?

We are still early but many of our companies are performing well including Possible Finance, Dolly, Fight Camp, and Outer to name a few.

Why should founders want you on their cap table?

We hustle hard for our founders assisting on the board, taking late night calls, introducing new anchor customers, new hires, helping with financing strategy, amongst other things. While we don't operate the company, we understand how difficult it is to build a company from the ground up and we want to be as helpful as the founder would like us to be. In addition, we host learning events, summits, and build strong networks for our entrepreneurs to thrive. They become a part of our community.

How many new pitches (actual calls/zooms) do you take per month?

I average about 25-30 per month.

How many new investments do you make per year?

We average about 8 investments per year.

What's your sweet spot(s) in terms of check size, valuation, and vertical?

We invest in pre-seed and seed stage. Our average check size is between $750K-$1.5M for the initial check and target ownership in the range of 10-25% although there isn't a hard and fast rule. We are pretty broad in verticals - it is all tech and we won't do biotech or medtech. We like companies that have a strong, sustainable competitive advantage around data.

What one portfolio company do you want to hype for us here?

Keep an eye out on Concreit. Great team and product, gaining real traction.

What do you think the next ten years looks like for Seattle/Pacific Northwest startups?

Not much to say here except that we're VERY bullish.

What song is currently getting the most run on your Spotify/Apple Music?

Waka Waka

Favorite shoes?

NB Running Shoes

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Sesame Oil

Anything else to say?

Go get a great bowl of ramen!

Growing Ascend - Welcome Jen!

January 11, 2022

Running a venture capital fund requires a lot more than just meeting entrepreneurs and making investments. As one of my favorite LPs is quick to remind me, "any a**hole can write a check."

The real work happens behind the scenes. Thousands of pitches need to be screened. CRM needs to be updated. Portfolio companies need support; from recruiting to service provider sourcing, from investor discovery to sales lead sourcing. Networks and relationships need to be nurtured. LPs need to be engaged. Advisors need to be connected in to founders. The fund itself as a set of entities needs to be administered, budgets and expenses managed, compliance and security minded. Its service providers need oversight. The website needs to stay fresh. Blog posts need creating. Community engagement and events require planning. Meetings need to be coordinated.

If you've ever worked with me, you know very few of the items on the list above are in my "sweet spot." But as they're integral to the success of our funds and founders, they need proper attention and investment. Just like a solo startup founder who has discovered product/market fit, I need to start building a world class team to support our growth at Ascend.

That's why I am so stoked to share that we've made Jen Haller our first hire at Ascend. Yes, it's truly "we" now!

Jen is an absolute dynamo. Her title will be Chief of Staff but in reality she'll do a bit of everything. She's been a classic utility infielder at a few of Seattle's most successful startups of the 2010s (Urbanspoon, Axon); she was part of the Paul Allen/Vulcan family via Stratolaunch; and most recently she helped Ascend portfolio standout Attunely scale through their Series A.

Jen is an awesome human. Aside from her selfless and well documented courage as the first recipient of Moderna's trial COVID vaccine, she's a foster parent for special needs dogs and has a long history of civic involvement from volunteering for social justice causes to political organizing. She is also a supermom to two teens, and in her spare time, enjoys trying to relax.

If you haven't met her yet, I cannot wait for you to meet Jen. She's just the person we need to help Ascend begin its next phase of growth!

Seattle VC Profile: Ben Nahir, Elevate VC

December 28, 2021

What made you decide to be a professional investor?

Right place, right time. I left my career in academic research in 2014 to begin an MBA at Portland State University. I started working with TiE Oregon, an angel group in Portland, OR, in 2016 as I was wrapping up my degree. I knew about the startup and angel community abstractly but didn't have a good sense of what it was really like. 5.5 years later, I found I absolutely love working with entrepreneurs and helping them navigate the challenges of starting companies.

What did you do before becoming an investor and how does that benefit your founders?

I spent 12 years as a research neurophysiologist. While that by itself may not be helpful, my education and training as a scientist taught me how to identify problems quickly, ask targeted, probing questions, and come up with potential solutions and ways to test them. More than having the right answer, I have found helping entrepreneurs come up with solutions through asking the right questions is incredibly valuable. I'm sure my in-depth knowledge of the rat brain will come in handy one day, though.

What are your most successful investments so far?

Despite being a relatively young fund, having been founded in 2016, we have realized 4 exits to date. One of our first investments, RFPIO, exited within 2 years. Brandlive provided us another (partial) exit this year and we are very excited to see this company continue to grow. The majority of our portfolio is still active and we have several companies positioning for new fundraising or potential exits this year. TrovaTrip, our last investment from Fund 1, just closed a Seed round led by PSL. We participated in that round out of Fund 2 and are very impressed with their growth trajectory.

Why should founders want you on their cap table?

Our General Partners are all seasoned entrepreneurs (including 2 IPOs) and have weathered the ups and downs of the last 20+ years. We believe very strongly in mentor capital and engage with our portfolio companies in whatever way makes the most sense to help them succeed.

How many new pitches (actual calls/zooms) do you take per month?

Too many? Just pitches for new companies is ~25-30 per month.

How many new investments do you make per year?

We hit the ground running with Fund 2. Since October 2020, we've made 10 new investments and 7 follow-ons from Fund 1. We are targeting 5-6/year but are not terribly strict on that if we see good opportunities. Though at this point, we are only going to make a few more investments to round out the portfolio.

What's your sweet spot(s) in terms of check size, valuation, and vertical?

Check size: $250k - $1M, depending on a lot of factors

Valuation: $5-15M, though we are participating in some much larger rounds too. We are still feeling this out as we mature from a pre-seed to a seed stage fund.

Vertical: technology (software) generally and healthcare in particular. We are pretty industry agnostic and are more interested in compelling problems and business models. Given the breadth of our team and partners, we believe we can add value across industries by helping entrepreneurs with the fundamentals of managing and growing their companies.

What one portfolio company do you want to hype for us here?

Fund 2: Time Study. Kishau Rogers is an amazing founder and created a simple, elegant solution for time management within hospitals. She is a no-nonsense leader who gets things done but is incredibly supportive and empathetic with her team.

Gap Fund: biomotum. Ray and Zach are developing a lower extremity, soft-robotic exoskeleton to help kids with Cerebral Palsy learn to walk.

What do you think the next ten years looks like for Seattle/Pacific Northwest startups?

We closed more than 17 investments entirely virtually in the last year and a half. I expect this trend will open up access to capital across the country. But, with investors gaining visibility into so many more markets, the competition for those investment dollars will increase even more. We may see increased maturity and development as a requirement for earlier seed and pre-seed rounds.

What song is currently getting the most run on your Spotify/Apple Music?

I've been listening to Anihmed's Deep House playlists on YouTube. Good beat that helps me focus, especially on diligence work. My 3-year-old son is really into mariachi music right now. So that provides a great contrast.

Favorite shoes?

I just replaced my Lems after about 5 years - with another pair of Lems. For formal occasions, I love my Primal Professionals. I'm all about minimalist shoes.

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Bacon. Garlic. Onion. But really, bacon.

Seattle VC Profile: Anthony Bontrager, WestRiver Group

October 5, 2021

Anthony Bontrager and I are both recovering adtech founders. He’s a straight shooter, keen operator, and highly effective advisor to the founders he works with. But what’s most impressive about Anthony is his heart - I’ve seen his kindness and generosity firsthand over the years and have grown to respect him all the more. Lucky to call him a friend.

What made you decide to be a professional investor?

Having been an entrepreneur for a significant part of my career (20+ years), the path to becoming a full-time investor was both gradual and natural. Between startups I very often found myself helping other entrepreneurs or VC’s with introductions, diligence, networking, etc. purely as part of my being part of and giving back to the entrepreneurial community. I approached this both with the goal of helping colleagues but also as a learning experience. I really enjoyed the exposure to new ventures, ideas, teams, etc. and ultimately realized that investing in and helping other entrepreneurs succeed was where I’d find the most fulfillment.

What did you do before becoming an investor and how does that benefit your founders?

Prior to becoming a full-time investor, I was the founder/CEO of two startups and prior to that was a senior executive at two publicly traded companies in the telecom and broadcasting spaces.

What are your most successful investments so far?

As most investors would say, "I love all my children!” However, one company, Qorus Software, continues to raise the bar in terms of performance, transparency, and team cohesion. While we pride ourselves on the amount of diversity within our portfolio, Qorus again leads by example and is by far our most diverse team to date. Additionally, our investments in Usermind, PTO Exchange and Wicket Labs are exciting examples of founders grinding it out and driving growth.

Why should founders want you on their cap table?

I’m very much a roll-up your sleeves investor and am an active board member. This can take the form of working with founders to develop a more formalized go-to-market strategy, or a true financial/operating plan so they understand how their business operates and the KPIs necessary to drive to success. In other areas, it’s with critical customer or partner introductions through relationships I’ve built over nearly 30 years. Last but not least, is helping founders understand the necessity of proper governance - both at the board level but also at the operational level - and how this will provide long-term benefit for them. This is an often overlooked and least understood issue with founders and its critical to get this right at the start and build proper muscle memory for it.

How many new pitches (actual calls/zooms) do you take per month?

I take approximately 15 to 20 pitches a month. Any more and I feel you’re doing a disservice to the prospective companies and your existing portfolio commitments.

How many new investments do you make per year?

Our Fund has typically targeted roughly 3 to 5 new investments per year

What's your sweet spot(s) in terms of check size, valuation, and vertical?

For our technology investing thesis in the PNW region, our initial check size ranges between $500k to $5M, and typically look set aside upwards of $10M per company for follow-ons, etc. We invest typically at the inflection point of post-revenue/pre-scale, meaning we want to see some sort of modest traction with customers buying off rate-card, and not simply a collection of POC customers. Speaking of our technology investing thesis in the PNW specifically, our focus is on SaaS companies leveraging AI/ML across large datasets as the foundational element of their business. This can manifest itself across several verticals - productivity platforms, unstructured / structured data management, FinTech, sales enablement, digital media, etc. While we have some companies that sit a bit outside these areas, this represents the bulk of our focus.

What one portfolio company do you want to hype for us here?

Qorus Software. An exceptional team that’s taking significant market share in the sales enablement/RFP market and growing rapidly. Just crushing it.

What do you think the next ten years looks like for Seattle/Pacific Northwest startups?

The PNW region has always punched above its weight from an entrepreneurship perspective, but only recently has it gotten the respect it deserves from outside our region, thanks to the rise of unicorn companies such Concur, Auth0, Qumulo, Smartsheet, etc. I see this trend continuing as the region maintains its status as the cloud capital of the world.

What song is currently getting the most run on your Spotify/Apple Music?

Let It Ride by The Blue Stones

Favorite shoes?

To Boot New York brown monkstraps

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Wine

Anything else to say?

I love cycling in the Pacific Northwest, working with the best and brightest entrepreneurs our region has to offer, and am a proud parent of a CU Boulder student.

Vancouver VC Profile: Annika Lewis, Vanedge Capital

September 21, 2021

Annika Lewis is a must-follow on Twitter. She’s incredibly curious, has a keen mind and wealth of experience, and isn’t afraid to learn in public. I met her on my last business trip pre-pandemic, and she’s been on fire since then. She’s one of the most knowledgeable analytics investors in the Pacific Northwest.

What made you decide to be a professional investor?

Being an investor wasn't on my radar until all of a sudden it was. I first learned about the VC world when I was working in Corporate Strategy at a big company and found myself on a project where I got to work closely alongside the company's internal venture arm. I quickly fell in love with going out and talking to founders and hearing their big visions for the world - I couldn't believe this was a full-time job. The rest is history.

What did you do before becoming an investor and how does that benefit your founders?

I spent six years at Capital One, where I held multiple roles in Analytics. I had a chance to work within many different functions - Marketing, Product Development, Strategy, Corporate Innovation - so I've worn lots of hats, which is great when working with founders. Since Analytics is a passion of mine and is the common thread across all my work, I focus largely on investments in Analytics & Data Infrastructure, and that's where I tend to lean in when working with founders.

Beyond my expertise in Analytics, what I think helps me most as an investor is the variety I've had not just in my work, but also in my life. I've lived in two countries & four cities. I've worked at a 10-person company and a 10,000-person company. I quit my corporate job outright and dropped everything to backpack around the world for a year. I studied Mandarin for five years and spent a summer living in China. My diversity of experience has helped me learn & grow & connect with founders more than anything else in my career.

Why should founders want you on their cap table?

I'm all about leveling the playing field between founders & investors. For example, I think the information asymmetry that exists between investors and founders is super detrimental, so I make a point of doing my part to help founders learn about what taking VC money looks like, what to look out for in a deal, and how to decipher legalese on a Term Sheet. In fact, I run a (free) Zoom course with another VC for early-stage founders on just this. I'd love to have more PNW founders in the mix!

How many new pitches (actual calls/zooms) do you take per month?

15-20, but always open to more.

How many new investments do you make per year?

2-4

What's your sweet spot(s) in terms of check size, valuation, and vertical?

$2-5M first check size. Areas of focus are Analytics, Deep Tech, and Computational Biology.

What one portfolio company do you want to hype for us here?

Canalyst is an awesome PNW up-and-comer here in Vancouver. One to watch!

What do you think the next ten years looks like for Seattle/Pacific Northwest startups?

Oh man, I'm just so excited for our little ecosystem. I'll admit, after moving back from NYC three years ago, I did feel like I was coming back to a bit of a business desert - but seeing how far we've come since then and getting glimmers of what's ahead, I think the world is starting to take the PNW more and more seriously beyond just the Amazons & Microsofts of the world. And my hometown of Vancouver, which has historically been a bit of a tech laggard to Seattle, is starting to punch above its weight class. I predict we see at least one new PNW decacorn within the next ten years.

What song is currently getting the most run on your Spotify/Apple Music?

I recently re-discovered Concrete Schoolyard by Jurassic 5. It slaps.

Favorite shoes?

My Vasque hiking boots. They've carried me on trails from Nepal to Kilimanjaro and full-circle back home to the PNW. They get much more frequent use now that I live here again!

Favorite cooking ingredient?

Trader Joe's "Everything but the Bagel" seasoning. Since we don't have Trader Joe's in Canada, I'm desperate for the border to re-open so I can make one of my day trips down to Bellingham and re-stock.

FOUNDERS BASH 2021 - SEATTLE STARTUP PHOTO GALLERY II

September 8, 2021

Founders Bash 2021 - Seattle Startup Photo Gallery I

September 8, 2021

Seattle VC Profile: Will Finney, SeaChange

September 8, 2021

Will Finney is one of the most active investors in the Seattle venture capital market. He and the SeaChange Fund team deploy ~$6M per year across a broad range of categories. And while Will is incredibly humble, he’s backed some of the region’s most successful companies. Will’s own experience as a founder and his calm demeanor make him a valuable asset to founders, and a great collaborator.

What made you decide to be a professional investor?

I have a passion for helping founders and a continuous learning mentality that dovetails nicely with venture. At the end of the day, I want to help elevate the town I grew up in. Having gone the founder route prior, resources available at an early stage were few and far between, I want to be part of that solution. Regardless of the stage of an idea/company I am always happy to meet.

What did you do before becoming an investor and how does that benefit your founders?

Prior to this I was at two startups BevPass (failed, founder) and Pivotal Living (exit 2016, early employee), and then a prior life at a macro focused currency fund. I’ve been on both sides of the equation (failed/successful). I think this translates well into my current role. The funding ecosystem is not easy and therefore compassion, time, and experience are critical components I can share to help elevate founders in the PNW.

What are your most successful investments so far?

Thrive Causemetics, CSATS, Prescryptive, Lockstep, Factal, Slumberkins, Violet

Why should founders want you on their cap table?

The network provided by our LP base is a remarkable resource and something I believe sets us apart. But, I would also encourage founders to do their own diligence on their capital partners, get out and talk with their portfolio co’s. I am always impressed when a company has independently studied up on us.

How many new pitches (actual calls/zooms) do you take per month?

It varies, but on average I take 8-10 per week.

How many new investments do you make per year?

We target 8-12 investments annually.

What's your sweet spot(s) in terms of check size, valuation, and vertical?

$500k-$750k check, valuations or caps sub $20m (ideally sub $8m), vertically agnostic

What one portfolio company do you want to hype for us here?

You’re asking me to pick a favorite child. Prescryptive. But also Yesler that we are in together. They’re both disintermediating large incumbents in their respective industries.

What do you think the next ten years looks like for Seattle/Pacific Northwest startups?

I believe that Seattle has become one of, if not the epicenter for cloud computing. Additionally we’re now a first stop for net new engineering offices and lets not forget our cities biotech heritage. This has attracted a lot of world-class talent. I hope we will better enable founders to start companies. The golden handcuffs are often hard to break but a tremendous amount of potential innovation is sitting in our own backyard. We just need to elevate the resources available to potential founders. Ken and Sean are doing a great job of this with V/O.