iSelect is in the business of investing in startups. We work with wealth managers, family offices, and institutional investors to improve access to venture capital as an investment strategy. So publishing a site about innovation is an unexpected step.
But while the world is crowded with stories about the changing investing landscape, Silicon Valley, hot unicorn startups, we couldn’t help notice the lack of good data about the toils behind building a new venture, or creating a new innovation. What really works? What are the failures? How to overcome uncertainty? You can read the venture press all week and still not understand the truly tough decisions entrepreneurs make. Or the stories about those that failed.
Often failure teaches us more about success.
That’s not because the venture press isn’t doing their job — it’s because no entrepreneur ever wants to communicate doubt about their performance. Sometimes, perhaps often times, their success is a bit more about luck. The data on the struggles are thin. The unfortunate result is a flood of startup stories and articles that don’t have the one thing everyone wants: hard data and facts about how entrepreneurs succeed.
We at iSelect find ourselves in a privileged position, though. We look at hundreds of startups a year across multiple industries. We talk to investors, customers, and scientists. We see one company saying its impossible to scan a tiny cancer, and then the next moment a company saying it can. We’re work with many of the largest and most sophisticated venture firms in the country, as well as many of the fastest growing and most innovative ventures. Rather than sitting on the sidelines, picking fun at yet one more bad article, we decided to tell the story of the chaos that is innovation. The anarchy so to speak behind the insanity of entrepreneurs focused on a fundamental change in the economy.
iSelect is on a mission to fund more entrepreneurs, because we see that entrepreneurs are the ones that unlock the innovations that change the course of things. No one comprehended a change to the world in on June 29, 2007, but that was the day Apple introduced the iPhone. Did you know so much would change? While the iPhone had a big impact, 1000’s of entrepreneurs each day introduce other opportunities, a blinding flash of the obvious, that forever change markets big and small. We never know what they will create, but we know they will do it on a regular basis.
The one thing every startup needs is a customer. With a customer comes revenue, customer requirements, and insight. Customer’s are the catylst to innovation. Startups need risk capital, money that understands the venture is less risky than it appears. Startups need talent, smart people who can run the business a bit better. Startups need proven entrepreneurs, the guides who know the footpath through the Anarchy of Innovation new entrepreneurs must traverse.
Innovation Anarchy is a marketing exercise for us. We hope it helps you find your role in our effort to grow investment in startups. Maybe you will invest. Maybe you will be an early adopter customer. Maybe you are a proven entrepreneur, tired of redoing your kitchen and playing golf. Maybe you are a talented engineer, salesperson, marketer, scientist or numbers person, looking for a way to do more.
Innovation Anarchy is run as an independent effort. Not every view expressed within reflects iSelect’s interests or perspective: We sponsored this conversation, but we didn’t constrain it.
While some of the people we’ve featured are portfolio companies, many are not. They are just our contribution to the anarchy that is innovation. They, like us, simply felt that this is an important dialog to be a part of. We’re extremely grateful to them for contributing their time and perspective.
We benefit tremendously from every entrepreneur we meet. We can only invest in a few, but we can let you build on the opportunity we observe. And maybe you can do more. Every successful entrepreneur, in reflection, will admit the anarchy and luck behind their success. Innovation Anarchy is here to open that story so you each can learn and see your role.
We hope you enjoy it, and that you’ll share your thoughts and ideas with us.
Carter Williams
CEO iSelect Fund
cwilliams@innovationanarchy.com
