22. Julian Counihan, Schematic Ventures - Seeing sector shifts and adapting to shifts at the seed stage

Heavy Hitters: The Digital Industrial Podcast

Julian was ahead of the curve in identifying the e-comm wave that is now transforming our industrial supply chain, and he founded Schematic Ventures to go all-in on that shift to better compete in a venture capital asset class that is only getting more and more competitive. We talk about his transition from being a generalist into a very focused specialist investor, how sector specialization compounds learnings and benefits to his network and within the portfolio, why he is adapting his fund construction strategy to adapt to the emerging pre-seed category and ballooning seed-stage round sizes, why VC specialization benefits decrease as you enter later stage growth investing, and how investors in this sector must take both a grounded exit outlook and an optimistic outlook as to where new addressable markets may form over time. Finally, he even throws in some tactical advice on fundraising for founders in these sectors.