Raising a $25M Fund, Implementing a Narrow Investment Thesis, and Hawke Ventures’ Unique Portfolio Construction Strategy, with Drew Leahy

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Drew Leahy, Managing Partner at Hawke Ventures (@hawkeventures), an early stage consumer and B2B marketing technology fund. He is also the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Hawke Media. Prior to Hawke, Leahy was Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of SnapSuits.com, a tech-forward men’s fashion e-retailer with over $2M+ in revenue. Drew was also Entrepreneur-in-Residence at memBrain in Los Angeles, making investments with tech and entertainment angel investors Ken Hertz and Liz Heller.

He is a data-driven, product focused entrepreneur and VC, motivated by the thousands of softwares that power brands. He has extensive experience in consumer mobile & web, b2b SaaS, social media, video, apparel, and entertainment verticals.

His product mantra: Vision (big), Execution (small), Test (thorough), Revise (smart). Repeat. He obsesses over conversion rate optimization, which is part art, part science.

Website: Hawke Ventures & Hawke Media

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drewleahy/

Twitter: @hawkeventures

Email: [email protected]

Drew’s first podcast episode with Justin in 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8w_JjvSokc

Show Notes:

• The journey from closing Hawke Ventures’ first $5.6M fund to raising a $25M fund
• How Drew is thinking about building out their team & how different firms approach the platform role
• How Hawke Ventures leverages the relationship with Hawke Media
• What Hawke Ventures is looking for in potential portfolio companies with their lead check fund
• Hawke Ventures’ unique portfolio construction strategy and the value of a narrow investment thesis
• Evaluating companies’ alignment with their thesis and what it means to hustle alongside their founders
• Some of the stories behind Hawke Ventures’ portfolio companies and how their “tracker checks” work
• What makes them repeat-invest in a company
• How their diversity-focused Venture Scout Program came about
• Drew’s thoughts on the current VC market

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 300+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series.

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors.

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital.

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/