IVCA Feature: New Member Profile of KB Partners |
IVCA Feature: New Member Profile of KB PartnersSeptember 26, 2018 Sometimes the expansion of our IVCA membership means welcoming back old friends. IVCA is pleased to announce our newest member, KB Partners. KB Partners is a early stage venture capital investment firm investing in “passionate innovators at the intersection of sports and technology.”
While seemingly a ‘niche’ focus, the world within sports-tech is quite large, as it extends beyond the traditional ‘technology for professional/college sports teams’ view and into just about the every day life of everyone. IVCA: Early stage investing also requires some sweat equity from the firm. What expertise do you have available and/or offer to assist an early stage company in getting to the next level? KB Partners: We see ourselves as a resource for an entrepreneur or founder as he or she strives to achieve certain goals on the path to significant growth and profitability. We believe we can assist with business strategy, product development insights, key-hire recruiting, advisor introductions and capital raising, to name a few. We want to be the first call when an entrepreneur has an idea, a problem or question. Keith is an entrepreneur himself, having co-founded the country’s largest custom golf equipment retailer, a roll up of semi-conductor services businesses, a discount retail chain, and led the turnaround of a women's apparel manufacturing company., He has also raised capital for and produced two feature films, in addition to his 20 plus years of early stage investing, in which he participated as an active member of the board of many companies. Each of our additional team members are entrepreneurs at heart, having built, managed, and led teams, big and small. We bring to the table a wide range of experiences that vary from leading combat patrols in Afghanistan as an Army officer, to negotiating media content rights contracts, to advising on multi-billion-dollar transactions. Additionally, our venture partners and advisory board members bring another set of experiences and a wide-ranging network – many were entrepreneurs themselves or leaders managing teams within larger companies. IVCA: You have a win/win strategy in your mission statement regarding both the investment/investors and the innovative entrepreneurs you're investing in. What kind of relationship or cooperative force do you believe is necessary for that win/win to take place? KB Partners: We see the funding of a startup as the beginning of a long-term, multi-year relationship with the entrepreneur and we are there to support, encourage and assist through both good times and adversity. The entrepreneur is the one with vision – in making an investment, we’ve said ‘we believe in you and will do everything we can to help you realize that vision.’ If the entrepreneur is not happy or satisfied with our partnership, it is unlikely that things will progress in a manner that makes us and our investors happy. Therefore, we look for entrepreneurs who share a similar ‘partnership’ mentality... we will rarely make an investment unless we believe we can be a value-add partner to the entrepreneur and feel the entrepreneur is looking for the same. While there are going to be difficult conversations and decisions throughout the life of a startup, we want to be aligned with each entrepreneur and the vision he or she has for the future. Additionally, with our long-term outlook, we look to create an environment in which an entrepreneur will want to work with us even beyond his or her current startup. In the past, we’ve seen previously backed entrepreneurs help us find new investment opportunities, make connections for key hires, mentor other entrepreneurs within our portfolio and give us feedback to improve our process. Ultimately, the win-win mentality extends far beyond the financing and even a successful exit. IVCA: What do KB Partners hope to achieve in their interaction with the VC/PC community within the IVCA? KB Partners: We are excited to be a part of the IVCA community again and see it as a great way to continue supporting the innovation and startup ecosystem here in Chicago, the State of Illinois and the Midwest. We look forward to sharing our insights and best practices, while also learning from and collaborating with other investors on investment opportunities. For more information on KB Partners, go to www.KBPartners.com
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