SportsRecruits is embarking on a new partnership with Veo! This partnership continues to help teams make video even more accessible in the recruiting process! With the combination of Veo video and the SportsRecruits platform, your players can create profiles, share their video with every college coach in the country, and track which coaches are watching each video.
AutoFi Shifts Into High Gear Due to Market Growth in Online Vehicle Purchases
A silver lining of the COVID-19 cloud has been rapid innovation within the automotive industry despite showroom closures. Car dealers have quickly responded to consumer preferences for a low-touch buying experience. Digital car sales and finance platform AutoFi (www.autofi.com) has seen its customer growth increase by 125% so far in 2020. To support this expansion, AutoFi is adding four technology and auto industry veterans to its leadership team.
Introducing AutoFi’s First Ever MasterClass In Partnership With Ford
AutoFi Master Class is designed exclusively for automotive dealerships looking to significantly boost volume and profitability through digital sales. Hosted by industry expert Joe St. John, the 13-week course will lay out the seismic changes in the industry, before diving deep into how auto dealers can meet the demands of 21st century shoppers.
Venture 'Rules Are Changing' as Funds Aim Beyond Unicorns (FundFire)
On August 26th, Laconia was featured in FundFire’s article, Venture 'Rules Are Changing' as Funds Aim Beyond Unicorns , examining various paths being taken by venture managers in pursuit of outsized returns.
Here are some highlights from the piece:
The piece drew a clear distinction between larger venture managers searching for the next unicorn, and “upstarts” such as Laconia and Boston-based Hyperplane, “which invest more deeply in early stage startups across their portfolios – similar to the operational “value creation” focus that buyout firms use to improve established companies”. These new model emerging managers are “aimed instead at helping entrepreneurs build profitable, sustainable businesses.”
“We’re looking at some of the emerging [venture] managers taking a new approach to access opportunities that the more established firms are not focused on or not built to capitalize on”
“The larger the size of the fund, the more you have to make sure you hit that fund-maker to deliver returns”
We (Laconia) had the opportunity to contribute our perspective on the topic, sitting down virtually with Associate Managing Editor, Tom Stabile to discuss the nuances of our approach, how we execute, and benefit of a more hands-on approach with founders and portfolio companies during the early stages. As our partner Geri Kirilova noted, the ability “to spend greater time and attention to help smaller startups develop good business practices – and solid organizations and teams – at the early stage” is critical to our ability to create value and drive better outcomes for founders and LPs. Laconia strives to enhance outcomes through operational execution, sales acceleration, and capital strategy, thereby reducing early stage risk.
Note - FundFire is a subscription based news service, the preceding is a synopsis.
EY Announces Andy Schwartz of xtraCHEF as an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2020 Finalist
Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) today announced that Andy Schwartz, Co-Founder and CEO of xtraCHEF, was named an Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2020 Greater Philadelphia Award finalist. Now in its 34th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year program honors entrepreneurial business leaders whose ambitions deliver innovation, growth and prosperity as they build and sustain successful businesses that transform our world.