Investing in innovation – what we’re building with Bellvista

In one of my recent posts on Valuing Innovation, I shared some of my background and why I left one of the world’s fastest growing and most successful companies – AWS – to create Bellvista. In that article, I laid out some of the reasons why leaving AWS made sense for me, but didn’t really delve too deeply into what, exactly, we’re doing with Bellvista.

I’d like to rectify that by sharing what Bellvista is, and why I’m so excited to be at the helm.

Bellvista is a partnership and investment vehicle that focuses on three asset classes; Venture Capital, Private Equity and Special Opportunities. Our venture capital work is focused on connecting entrepreneurs with capital and unmatched expertise. Our Private Equity capabilities assist mature organizations with restructuring projects with advisory services. Our Special Opportunities platform offers bespoke capability with a focus on fixed and real assets.

In addition to our work with entrepreneurs we generate our own innovative capabilities and build world-class teams around them for scale. Bellvista is our take on what an innovation cooperative should look like.

So why did I start Bellvista?

Looking at the technology space, the investment market and what resources were available to entrepreneurs and startup operators, I started to notice something – there were many companies and firms that were willing to invest in proven companies and executives at a modest scale that were looking to grow.

What wasn’t well represented and serviced was the really young startup organizations – those early in the risk curve that aren’t even in a position yet to scale a company. In fact, many of these individuals are still looking to take really good ideas that are on whiteboards and the back of napkins and turn them into companies with solid “version one” offerings and capabilities.

But we’re not just launching Bellvista to fill a niche or vacuum in the market. We feel there’s much more than just money that we can offer to these companies.

People never have problems with coming up with new ideas. New, innovative ideas are generated all of the time. What people really struggle with is turning those ideas into action. Taking that next step and bringing a company to market that has an effective solution to meet customer needs. And that’s were Bellvista can help.

Early stage entrepreneurs bring the most innovative and crazy ideas to the table, but they look at a business problem with a different lens than a mid-level operator would. They often lack the ability and knowledge to turn those ideas into reality, and that reality into value for themselves and their investors.

Bellvista’s team is comprised of experienced operators with decades of experience in the target markets that we’re looking to invest. We have the experience and ability to take ideas and nurture them into companies with viable solutions that not only promise to meet customer needs – but are actively doing so. And we’re extremely excited to bring this knowledge and ability to the most creative and innovative early-stage companies.

In my next post on Valuing Innovation, I’ll take a deeper dive into the industries and markets in which Bellvista plans to focus its investments, and why we’ve made that decision.

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