Community Spotlight. Tatiana Griffiths
ICLUB Angel Investor Stories
Dear subscribers, ICLUB Newsletter is back! I can imagine your surprise after months of silence from us, but there wasn’t a single day we didn’t think about you. All this time, our team has been focusing on internal operations, thus some initiatives like this one were put on hold. Talking about those operations, the club has reached one thousand members! As you can imagine, a lot of busy work needed to be done. Now, let’s kick off this Substack with a new story we’ve prepared for you.
Meet Tatiana Griffiths, a fellow ICLUB member since 2020 and Director and Board Member of CGM Azimut Monaco, one of the largest asset managers in the Principality of Monaco that offers tailored financial services and solutions to meet high-net-worth individuals' needs. On top of that, Tatiana is the first woman featured in the rubric, therefore the spotlight is going to be a special one for sure.
Today, she has a portfolio of 38 VC companies and over 20 years of investment banking experience. So, let’s jump into the reading and see what interesting we’ve got.
Born to Invest. From Private Banking to Venture Capital
Tatiana began her journey into the investment world as a student, specializing in banking and finance in the UK. Not all investors happen to follow the academic route, so it was particularly intriguing to learn about deal approaches from someone who had.
The first assets to work with came from the banking sector, too, which does not favor venture capital at all. Private banking is characterized by conservatism, which, according to Tatiana, she started to get bored with over time. Here, clients prefer minimal risks and invest mainly in blue-chip companies in the public market.
The venture is a different story, an opposite one: high stakes and unknowns with the potential to get lucrative profits. Foremost, it has always been captivating to see what happens in companies before they go public. In addition, startups themselves are fascinating and often offer products that have not previously been seen. It's a rewarding feeling to see your portfolio companies grow and evolve in a challenging and competitive space.
All in all, Tatiana went into venture capital by choice. What happened next?
First Steps in Venture, or How to Lose the Whole Experience in an Instant
Tatiana's first VC investment was Impress (our portfolio company, by the way). So, how did many years of experience in private banking and asset management help? Well, it didn’t. For all the knowledge, she had to learn almost from scratch and suddenly become self-taught, she says.
Startups are not good for precise calculations. Instead, you frequently have to guess and rely on intuition and common sense. Technology moves fast and keeping track is an unwieldy task. On the one hand, an investor should know the whole story, but it is tough to know everything. On the other hand, the founder of a startup is also its salesman, so we cannot avoid suggestion, belief, and subjectivity in general.
But startups, like nothing else, help you stay on top of tech developments. It allows you to be part of exciting industries like space exploration (and for a reasonable amount of money). You don't get that with traditional investments.
How to Choose a Winning Deal?
First, decide which verticals you are most drawn in. In Tatiana's case, these are Software SaaS, Biotech, healthcare, fintech, and e-commerce. Then start studying them to keep up to date: read news, listen to podcasts, follow opinion leaders. All of this will help you separate the wheat from the chaff in the future and avoid falling for blatantly weak products.
Several tips from Tatiana to our readers. Try the weekly podcasts of US tech entrepreneur Jason Calacanis to keep the pulse on the latest developments in tech VCs. Also, he wrote a great book, “Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups” that’s worthwhile reading. The name is pretty self-explanatory.
When it comes to early-stage startups, Tatiana believes it's all about the team. Give preference to serial entrepreneurs who have experience in starting and running a business.
The next point is expertise. The startup team should have specialists who can execute the product. In other words, if the startup's product is AI, then the team should have relevant professionals with a track record. The more complex the product, the more the founders will have to sweat to find the right people.
When listening to pitches, pay attention to the addressable market. To be successful, a startup should aim for a large market where it can reach its full potential. A large market also reduces risk, as it is easier to take a bite out of the pie. If the market is too limited, a mistake by the startup could cost the business.
The startup's product must be scalable. This includes the complexity of the product itself, manufacturing, supply chain, logistics, and other things that directly or indirectly affect the size of the revenue ceiling. Software is no exception. If a startup is too narrowly focused, it can end up backed into a corner.
Last but not least are the funds. If the startup is popular with other well-known and large funds, it bodes well for you. According to Tatiana, venture investors shouldn’t always be rebellious and go against the grain. Sometimes the obvious solution is the right one, and there is no need to be squeamish about third-party due diligence.
Web3 vs. AI
Every year in the VC world, there is a new favorite to grab the attention of investors. In recent years it has been AI, before that it was Web3. What does an investor with 20 years of experience, who has been on both sides of the conservative spectrum, think about it?
From Tatiana's point of view, Web3 is not exhausted, it just needs more time. Moreover, the establishment of this industry is essentially inevitable: it's a natural development of the current internet.
While not all the ideas and concepts here have been realized, some products will certainly become an integral part of everyday life. These include blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Of the cryptocurrencies, bitcoin is the only one that deserves attention, as it resembles gold on the public markets. In the next five years, the dabbling in crypto will come to an end, only Bitcoin will remain, and it will become a formidable competitor to the fiat payment method.
Artificial intelligence is a different matter. This beast is already showing exponential growth and real cases. Unlike its predecessor, AI offers a more tangible product that can be implemented and used here and now. Tatiana estimates that AI will be fully integrated into everyday life by 2029.
An interesting detail: it seems that Tesla will become the leader in AI shortly. The company has built the world's largest supercomputer, called Dojo, which is instrumental for AI development.
Suggestions to Novice Investors
Venture investments should not exceed 10% of your total asset portfolio.
Within the VC portfolio, diversify as much as possible across industries and products, bearing in mind the volatility of the environment.
Try to get all the due diligence on the company and choose investment platforms that can provide it. Trust the professionals.
Focus on the best companies and follow the money. Unexpected advice, but effective. Sophistication is best left to experienced investors.
From the Editor
Next week, we are aiming to release a VC news overview. I heard venture is dying again. Oh no, not once more!
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