A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO AN AGING MODEL

I’m often asked why Antler looks different than the typical VC. Are we an accelerator? An incubator? Maybe if you worked in another industry these would be reasonable questions, but I typically hear this from people who work in tech, an area that’s about constant evolution, and yet people still struggle to get their head around a venture firm that is doing something different.

We look different to the typical VC because we designed it that way. When I joined the firm back in late 2018, I did so because I was convinced by Antler’s belief that it could support founders from day zero of their journey, support them across the lifecycle of their business, and do this in all of the major ecosystems of the world. I knew first hand from being a founder that building a company is a tough, oftentimes lonely experience. I was attracted to the idea of a firm that would provide resources to founders at the inception of their business and continue as a partner for the long term, increasingly investing resources and finance as the business models proved out. It wasn’t like any of the investors I had ever had.

I also liked that we would do it everywhere. I built my first company in Indonesia at the dawn of the tech ecosystem in that country. I understood very quickly the scale of opportunity that existed in the world’s fourth most populous country and the quality of founders who were building there, but at the time, there were only a handful of venture firms who even had a presence in Indonesia.

From its very beginning, Antler recognized the fact that there are great founders capable of building category-defining companies in most major cities around the world. And Antler would come to them, to help them build where their journey started. 

This wasn’t (and isn’t) the model for many of our peers. Though venture capital practices date back several decades, the model hasn’t changed much over time. Aspiring founders mostly encounter would-be investors who prefer to wait until an idea has matured before investing. That model makes a lot of sense for ‌venture firms, but it makes less sense for founders.

They need someone to be there at the beginning, at the hardest and scariest moment. So that’s what we said we would do, enter at the risky entry point - like our founders - and then support them along the way.

How did we get this to work - the construction story

We launched this innovative model in 2018 and as anyone who has built a business would understand, it hasn’t always been a straightforward journey. But the fundamental thesis that attracted me to join the firm is today stronger than ever and our unceasing focus on helping day zero founders is what has enabled our firm’s success thus far. 

We are now recognized as one of the most active VC firms in the world, running founder residencies in 27 locations, including five new ones in 2023. This expansion brings us closer to world-changing ideas, and helps us fulfill our mission of making progress inevitable. Our Residencies are where entrepreneurs often meet their co-founder, ideas take shape and category-defining companies are born.  

In 2023 alone, 120,000 aspiring founders applied to Antler residencies. This is a 27% increase from 2022. We were one of only a handful of VC firms that initiated more investments in 2023 than in the prior year. We plan to increase our investments in 2024 and, in doing so, will solidify our status as one of the most active VC firms in the world. 

I look at these numbers and I think about the amount of opportunity we are creating for founders right across the world. I know how hard it was to raise the first $25,000 for my first company and I think about the number of companies that potentially wouldn’t have been built without Antler’s support. On the one hand, I feel a certain responsibility to help as many people as possible, but in reality I know the biggest impact we can have as a firm is by finding the very best - the most impactful - founders. That’s why, even though we made a record 380 investments last year, up from 290 in 2022, the process is now more selective than ever – we make only 2.8 investments per 1,000 applications. At the end of the day, finding the very best people is what moves the needle.

That applies to us too. I can’t count how much time I have spent hiring people to come and work at Antler. Like finding founders, it’s always inspiring work to hear people’s stories and try to find the most impactful operators. I would only work for a firm that had an unrelenting focus on quality and I believe that’s why Antler has been able to continuously attract and retain top people. I was attracted by the energy and ambition of Antler and it’s what attracts other people to Antler too.  

Like most of the other Partners in Antler, I have spent the majority of my career as a founder. So working inside an organisation has required a bit of a readjustment. But ultimately this trade is worthwhile because of the accountability and ownership I feel within the firm. All our locations are led by Partners, who raise and invest their funds locally. They are accountable to their own LPs and Portfolio, which helps us remain properly entrenched in every ecosystem. Even though I spend time working on my global responsibilities, I still coach teams, make investments and report to my LPs.
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I believe this is what accounts for our success: exceptional people and 100% ownership. These are the foundations of the firm and which I think, over time, are the foundations of all great companies.

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I have been at the firm for nearly seven years and I believe this is what accounts for our success: exceptional people and 100% ownership. These are the foundations of the firm and which I think, over time, are the foundations of all great companies. But just having these foundations isn’t sufficient to help you win. You need to be open, malleable and dynamic, responding and changing to what you learn along the way. Like everyone else, the last few years have yielded plenty of important lessons about how we should build our business in the next seven years. 

We didn’t always get it right - what we’re changing for the future

First of all, since we began, the global economy has taken many unexpected turns. The pandemic, geopolitical conflict, rampant inflation, and higher interest rates all played a part in re-shaping our world. I don’t know a single one of my founders who is not struggling with the uncertainty and upheaval created by all of these events, even if they do present many of them with historical opportunities. 

Those of us in venture capital have not been insulated from these events either. Between 2021 and 2023, funding rounds declined by 38%. It now takes our portfolio companies three-to-six months longer to raise than it did just a couple years ago. I am fortunate to work alongside some incredible people who have helped our company and many of our portfolio to weather some of the storm. 

The world’s problems, however, won’t wait until macro-economic conditions turn a favorable corner. And we know that the state of the economy won’t stifle the drive of entrepreneurs. We can be sure of significant progress on global issues—from decarbonization to improved healthcare to productivity advances - even in these uncertain times.

But there’s nothing like a shake-up of the markets to get you thinking about how to do things better. Since launching in 2018, we have learned a great deal about our model and the opportunities opened through Day Zero investing. Like any expanding firm, we are continuously optimizing the way we are structured in order to better serve our founders and investors. Antler has taken a number of approaches to fund structure since our inception and we believe we have now hit on a format that will best support founders over the long term. This has involved some targeted interventions in certain markets in order to improve and increase our investment activity. Now we are preparing for the next phase of growth, making changes that we believe will better support founders on their journey from Day Zero to greatness. 

A Partner for the Long Term

Ultimately, to be a great partner to the best founders it’s important to build capabilities that enable us to accompany them over the long term. That’s how we view these latest evolutions to our model - they allow us to support more founders deeper into their journey.  

Because we believe there has never been a better time in human history to build a business. Today’s entrepreneurs have unprecedented opportunities through the convergence of computational technologies, risk-prone capital and access to a global marketplace. 

And yet, in spite of all of these observable trends, we are seeing the biggest waste of human talent in history. Millions are stuck in unproductive jobs; while 60% of talented people want to build businesses, only 3% actually do.

Companies can create wealth for generations, shape culture, policy, social responsibility, and drive innovation. To create these generational companies, we need to support their founders from day zero to greatness. Antler has already helped 14,000 ‌founders on this journey, the next step in our evolution is to help multiple times that many.