Vishal Vasishth of Obvious Ventures: Having a Clear Focused Thesis & Trusting the Process

03/08/22 • 16 min

Episode Summary:
Vishal Vasishth is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Obvious Ventures, founded in 2014, and investing in both early and growth stage companies. In this episode we speak with Vishal on his path to starting Obvious Ventures - from his time at Patagonia which greatly influenced the way he thought about brand and culture to his entrepreneurial path focused on how to solve real problems in the world. Tune into this episode to learn more on the parallels between building a company and venture funding, the importance of a clear focused thesis and how to build trust with key stakeholders.

What is Uncovered:

Vishal’s journey to starting Obvious Ventures
The process and experience of getting those first few LPs to invest
The biggest difference between being a venture capitalist and an entrepreneur
The parallels between venture capital and starting a company
Biggest challenge running Obvious Ventures thus far
How Obvious Ventures is growing and differentiating themselves in a competitive VC landscape

Learn More About:

Vishal Vasishth

Vishal invests in values-driven founders and companies that dramatically improve healthcare outcomes, create more human-centered financial systems, and reimagine consumer services from the ground up.

He leads Obvious’ investments in full-stack healthcare with Virta, Galileo, and Devoted Health; financial technology startups such as Hedvig, One, Corvus, and Openly; and purpose-led consumer services like Good Eggs and Block Renovation.

Before co-founding Obvious, Vishal was the founding partner of Indian-based fund SONG Investment Advisors. He also served as a senior executive at Steve Case’s Revolution, LLC. Prior to his career as an investor, Vishal spent a decade at outdoor gear and apparel retailer Patagonia, in roles ranging from product manager to Chief Strategy Officer. He was selected as a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a Next Generation Fellow of the American Assembly, both recognizing value-based leadership. Vishal earned a B. Tech degree in India, an MS from North Carolina State University, and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Vishal grew up in the fast growing city of Chandigarh, India. He is an avid cricket fan and aspiring batsman.
Connect with Vishal on LinkedIn

Obvious Ventures:

Obvious is a venture capital firm investing in startups reimagining trillion-dollar industries through a world positive lens. Our three investment pillars are Sustainable Systems, Healthy Living, and People Power. We invest at both early and growth stages. Learn more by visiting their website at https://obvious.com/.
Quotes:

On raising money for follow-on investments: “It's a journey. I think it's similar to building companies and operating companies, which is ultimately building trust. You need to be building trust with all the stakeholders, including internal teams, external teams, customers, and showing progress, day after day, which enables you to get more people involved in your tribe.”
“You are becoming better by doing the things which have brought success and learning from the failures”

What is Uncovered:

Vishal’s journey to starting Obvious Ventures
The process and experience of getting those first few LPs to invest
The biggest difference between being a venture capitalist and an entrepreneur
The parallels between venture capital and starting a company
Biggest challenge running Obvious Ventures thus far
How Obvious Ventures is growing and differentiating themselves in a competitive VC landscape

Learn More About:

Vishal Vasishth

Vishal invests in values-driven founders and companies that dramatically improve healthcare outcomes, create more human-centered financial systems, and reimagine consumer services from the ground up.

Vishal grew up in the fast growing city of Chandigarh, India. He is an avid cricket fan and aspiring batsman.
Connect with Vishal on LinkedIn

Obvious Ventures:

On raising money for follow-on investments: “It's a journey. I think it's similar to building companies and operating companies, which is ultimately building trust. You need to be building trust with all the stakeholders, including internal teams, external teams, customers, and showing progress, day after day, which enables you to get more people involved in your tribe.”
“You are becoming better by doing the things which have brought success and learning from the failures”

Previous Episode

Abby Miller Levy of Primetime Partners: The Future of How We Age

Episode Summary:
In our third episode of Season 3, Matt joins forces with Marissa Millbury, VP at PJC, to speak with Abby Miller Levy, Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Primetime Partners. We learn more on how she went from wellness entrepreneur to founding Primetime Partners in 2020 which is focused on the trillion dollar global sector of Aging. A powerful conversation around this particular sector that is ripe for innovation.
What is Uncovered:

The catalyst behind Primetime Partners
Why Abby went from writing business plans for older adults to instead starting her own VC fund
The strategic steps she took to get Primetime Partners off the ground
What surprised her the most with fundraising
The staggering statistics around our aging population & the enormous amount of white space in this sector
The biggest challenges Abby has faced thus far with starting Primetime

Learn More About:
Abby Miller Levy:
Abby is the Managing Partner & Co-Founder of Primetime Partners. Abby has spent her career helping businesses and consumer brands grow as an operator, entrepreneur and advisor, most notably in the wellness sector. Prior to Primetime Partners, Abby was an executive at SoulCycle, where she oversaw business development and revenue growth outside the consumer studio business, with an emphasis on building new digital products as the Senior Vice President of Strategy & Growth. Abby has also been a Founder herself, teaming with Arianna Huffington to launch Thrive Global, a behavior change technology company focused on employee productivity and wellness. Abby served as President of Thrive Global and remains on the Thrive Board. Abby began her career at McKinsey & Company then led product development at OXO International. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Business School. Connect with Abby on LinkedIn.

Primetime Partners:
Primetime is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests in, and builds from the ground up, companies that can transform the quality of living for older adults.

They support the founders and organizations that create meaningful new products, services and experiences in the under-served, trillion dollar global sector of Aging. They accelerate business growth through their direct-to-consumer marketing expertise, their strategic distribution partners, synergies across portfolio companies and an engaged network of advisors. Also core to their mission, is to unlock the talent and expertise of experienced older adults as founders and business builders. Follow on: LinkedIn.
Quotes from Abby:

"Don’t discredit anyone’s questions or criticism. I think it's really easy to say, ‘oh, they just don't get it.’ Or, you know, ‘screw them’ or whatever else it is, but actually, in the critiques is where you can learn the most. I felt that way when I fundraised in the past and I still feel like it raises your game to get that criticism and feedback.”
“The emotional reaction of being told no still takes getting used to, even if you have been successful and are prepared and know the stats of first time funds”
“Fifty percent of Americans are going to run out of money and no one's dealing with it or talking about it. There's only two million senior living beds in our country. How are people going to age in place? There are just tons of macro issues that entrepreneurs can help solve.”

Next Episode

Virginie Raphael of FullCircle: Closing the incentive alignment gap and starting a perpetual fund

Episode Summary:
Virginie Raphael is the Founder and Managing Partner of FullCircle, a pre-seed fund focused on the structural changes required to create a better workforce and closing the incentive alignment gap. In this episode, Matt and Marissa talk with Virginie about her path to venture, her motivation for starting FullCircle (first launched in June of 2021) and her passion for helping companies at the earliest stages with FullCircle’s perpetual fund structure.

What is Uncovered:

Virginie’s unexpected journey to venture
FullCircle’s perpetual fund structure
The strategies and challenges with fundraising for a perpetual fund
What her first LP commitment was like
The parallels between fundraising for a startup and a venture fund

Learn More About:

Virginie Raphael

Virginie Raphael is obsessed with serving founders at the earliest stages and passionate about finding ways to better align founders and funders.

Virginie launched FullCircle to scale the impact of her work with a perpetual fund structure to invest in a better workforce.

Prior to founding FullCircle, Virginie was a Managing Director at Tusk Ventures where she was an early employee and spent eight years advising and investing in early-stage founders operating in highly regulated industries. Before Tusk, Virginie honed her analytical and financial skills as a banker at Lehman Brothers/Barclays.

French born, she was swept away by New York’s resilient entrepreneurship culture and enduring optimism. Connect with Virginie on LinkedIn and Twitter. FullCircle:

FullCircle is an early-stage venture firm investing at pre-seed out of a perpetual fund. We serve founders as trusted long-term partners with shared values and a startup mentality.

We invest up to $250k into initial rounds ranging $500k-$1.5M.

We are highly collaborative and network-driven, co-investing with the angels and small early-stage funds you want around the table.

We are passionate about the changing composition of the workforce.

We see an overlooked opportunity to build technologies serving the needs of working caregivers, deskless workers in traditionally low-tech industries, as well as independent workers.

We value trust and transparency above all else.

We align with you right from the start as your most insightful, transparent and candid partner in executing your vision with clarity and focus.

Learn more about FullCircle on their website.

Quotes from Virginie:

“VC is a team sport, especially at pre-seed. Those rounds are going to be syndicated out, so if you want to be a repeat player, you have to be able to be collaborative."
“I love collaborating with other firms whom I know our values are aligned with and treat founders the same way I would want them to be treated.”