Investing over zoom expands the top of the funnel and lowers the barrier to entry for all founders
Investors can take 2-5x more meetings with founders from anywhere in the world
Paul’s thesis: Investing in overlooked founders will likely generate outsized returns
The American Southeast and Midwest include 44% of the US population but only receive 14% of VC funding
Despite this, 36% of last year’s Inc. 5000 reside in these regions with a median growth rate of 161% year-over-year
The “either-or” debate between making existing firms invest in underrepresented founders from their main funds OR raising “opportunity” funds that are specifically focused on underrepresented founders isn’t helpful, both are necessary to make VC funding more equitable
Jay-Z had the best Q1 2021 of any entrepreneur or investor
Tidal was acquired by Square for $297M, he sold 50% of Ace of Spades to LVMH for ~$300M, launched $10M cannabis-focused fund to back black founders, Oatly filed for IPO
Paul Judge, Ph.D. is Managing Partner of Panoramic Ventures, a VC fund that invests in “underserved geographies and overlooked founders” prioritizing the American Southeast and Midwest. Paul is also Co-Founder & Executive Chairman of Pindrop, an information security company that provides risk scoring for phone calls to detect fraud and authenticate callers). Pindrop’s most recent valuation was $900m in 2018.