Investing

Come join via Zoom to learn about one of the newest members of the Shadow Labs community – Civdrone. Civdrone is a construction tech startup aiming to revolutionize land surveying. Thanks to their robotic mechanism, marking points has never been so fast, simple and reliable. Civdrone is using a custom-made staking mechanism controlled by autopilot algorithm and data management software. […]

This showcase features Hilo, via Zoom. The unprecedented times we are all facing have underscored the importance of community in everyone’s lives. Hilo was built to connect people and bring building communities together. As social distancing has become a necessary measure to help ‘flatten the curve’, we understand more than ever how important it is for building operators to communicate […]

Join InfoTycoon – one of the key entities in our portfolio – for a startup showcase via Zoom. Led by COO Maanav Mahindru, they’ll delve into the full suite of inspection and asset management solutions that they offer. InfoTycoon is the industry’s #1 inspections and asset management platform. Created specifically for multifamily owners, managers, and developers, our platform features five […]

Join L.D. Salmanson, CEO and Co-Founder of Cherre, for a virtual town hall via Zoom. L.D. has extensive experience founding, advising, and investing in leading private technology companies. Prior to founding Cherre, L.D. served as Executive Director of Oppenheimer’s Private Shares Group, after Oppenheimer acquired Greencrest Capital, a firm he co-founded to enable pre-IPO transactions in some of the largest […]

Join Sean Devine, founder and CEO of XBE LLC – a Chicago-based startup offering a horizontal construction optimization solutions provider – along with Nick Durham, senior associate here at Shadow Ventures, for a virtual town hall via Zoom. Sean is an entrepreneur, programmer, and logistics expert who has plenty of experience in marketing, business development, and more. Nick has been […]

Join Brian Sayre, a senior associate here at Shadow Ventures, for Webinar via Zoom. Brian is a growth, innovation and venturing enthusiast with a passion for creative problem-solving, business strategy, and corporate growth development. He has a unique ability to understand and communicate with large corporations and leading entrepreneurs, bridging the gap to create impactful partnerships through alliances and corporate […]

Join our Founder, K.P. Reddy, and global strategist and entrepreneur, Anitha Vadavatha for a spirited discussion on the implications of the current COVID-19 crisis. Learn what your next best steps could be as a startup founder, corporate innovator, or investor from two people who had been there. Disruptors Only: Anitha Vadavatha & K.P. Reddy from Shadow Ventures on Vimeo.

Meg Paulus of HOLT Ventures, Ty Findley of Pritzker Venture Capital, and Momei Qu of PSP Growth dove into Strategic VC with Nick Durham of Shadow Ventures to understand how they can make or break a startup. In this industry, it is not about finding new startups and investing in them; it is about taking the startup and finding nuanced […]

A few weeks ago, I had a call with a reporter from a major publication. She was trying to get educated on innovation in the construction industry. For a person who is not in the industry, it all sounds like a bunch of jibberish. Talking to people outside of your industry and explaining all the players and jargon is a […]

Over the last four years, I have had four exits per year. Wow, right? Except that an “exit” doesn’t necessarily mean a positive one. Thankfully, most of mine were positive. As an investor, an exit is not a super emotional event. If we make a great return, our investors say “thanks for doing your job.” And if we don’t, they […]

Money can solve a lot of problems. Maybe not ANY problem, but it can solve a LOT of problems. In many ways, I am a gatekeeper between people who want to solve problems and people who want to invest in having these problems solved. Our startups are passionate about solving major built environment challenges to save the planet. Our investors […]

When I was first exposed to it in the mid ‘90s, venture capital was a different business. Back then, the mystique surrounding a venture capitalist was minimal. VCs were mostly successful tech entrepreneurs who decided they wanted to do something a little different. They weren’t following some sort of thesis that involved “odds,” they weren’t on Twitter giving advice, and […]

When I read an article yesterday criticizing the venture capital community for not being focused on funding innovation to support carbon neutrality, I got mad. And I anger-tweeted. Then I re-read the article to make sure I wasn’t overreacting. And you know, the journalist wasn’t totally wrong. The reality is that venture capital has historically done a terrible job of […]

Last week I was in NYC and had an amazing meeting with Anand Sanwal, CEO of CB Insights. If you’ve never heard of CB Insights, you should definitely check them out. They are a next-gen industry analyst that has built software that tracks startup data and sells this data (alongside research and workflow tools) to large corporations that are looking […]

Yesterday, I had a typical day for a seed-stage venture capitalist. 6 calls with our incubator company CEOs, 1 call with an investment that we are trying to get over the goal line, and 2 calls with corporate venture capitalists. Then a myriad of meetings with my team to help troubleshoot anything that came up during the day. Oh, and […]

Venture capital is broken. It’s broken because fund managers don’t understand what it takes to succeed. They likely entered VC because it was trendy and they saw big money in tech, but they don’t know how to dig in and execute on the work. Like any business system, venture capital is a supply chain. Connect the right investments with the […]

In part 1, Innovation is Killing the Planet, I discussed innovation’s role in climate change. Innovation has created abundance, and abundance has created waste. And unfortunately, the built environment is the #1 producer of waste in the world. Technology created this mess—but it’s also the solution. The next couple of blog posts will highlight the specific phases of creating a […]

I’ve been a full-time investor for the last three years. I do some paid speaking and advisory work here and there, but I make my living generating returns for myself and my co-investors. It is hard — very hard, actually — but it’s also the most fun I’ve ever had. It barely feels like work. Writing checks to entrepreneurs is […]

A core belief of Shadow Ventures is that world-changing breakthroughs don’t all happen in Silicon Valley.Case in point? Earlier this week, I was in Austin, Texas for a private investor unveiling of ICON’s new 3D printed affordable housing solution. Late last year, Shadow invested (alongside Oakhouse Partners, Vulcan Partners, Emaar, and D.R. Horton) in ICON’s first seed round. I have […]