In my last post on Valuing Innovation, I discussed what we’re building with Bellvista, and why we decided to build, “…a venture capital firm that connects entrepreneurs with capital and unmatched expertise.” Now, I’d like to talk specifically about the industries, markets and technologies in which Bellista is looking to invest.
Ultimately, we’re not trying to be everything for everyone at Bellvista. Although we’re technologists at heart and interested in all of the latest, most exciting and most innovative new technologies, we’re only looking to focus our investments and activities on those organzations and technologies in three specific markets. And those markets are:
- Cybersecurity
- Cloud computing and cloud infrastructure, and
- Big Data and data analytics
And there are some very good reasons for our decision to focus on these markets.
First, these are markets that are a natural area of focus for the operators and investors that comprise Bellvista. The firm has decades of experience in these areas, working with some of the largest and most recognizable companies and brands in these markets. With our experience in these markets, Bellvista is uniquely qualified to assist early-stage startup companies innovating in these areas and deliver value and essential guidance.
But our unique qualifications and experience in these industries aren’t the only reasons why we’re interested in investing in them. There are solid business reasons why we’ve made this decision.
Each of these three markets are attracting some of the most unique innovators that are looking to address some of the most unique and difficult problem domains facing enterprise and government constituencies.
Each of these three market areas are lifetime or generational businesses. Organizations are going to need to compute against their data, share, secure and store their data, and that’s not going to change. In 50 years, companies will still be plagued by large analytics, cyber and cloud problems. And they’ll continue to identify new, exciting and innovative ways to utilize services like the cloud and data analytics that we haven’t even imagined today.
The technologies that we invest in and bring to market today will ultimately shape the networks and IT capabilities of the future. And Bellvista is excited to play a role in that, by bringing our experience and knowledge to the innovative companies that will setting the stage and framing the discussion now and into the future.
Simultaneously, these three markets – cybersecurity, cloud and big data – are areas where enterprises, government agencies and all other organizations are focusing their IT dollars and efforts because they have identified real concerns, needs and opportunities. This means that there is significant economic opportunity to investing in these areas today.
But, ultimately, the economic opportunity and the potential for large returns on investment were not the largest motivating factors. It really was the combination of all three factors – economic opportunity, ability to innovate and impact the networks of the future, and the experience and value that Bellvista can bring to operators – that led to our decision.
We have purposefully avoided a collection of markets – including some large ones that would surprise many observers – because they don’t meet the criteria above. One example would be the healthcare IT market.
Healthcare and healthcare technology is approaching 25 percent of GDP. A pragmatist would want to have investment exposure to healthcare IT and healthcare technology in today’s marketplace, where there is significant investment in new healthcare technologies and solutions designed to revolutionize the way we deliver care and engage patients.
We rejected it because it was out of initial focus. Few of the operators and investors that comprise Bellvista had significant experience or knowledge in the healthcare IT industry, and we ultimately felt that there were firms better positioned to work in these markets. By focusing on the generational markets Bellvista knows best and sees the highest potential rate of return, the firm is poised to drive success for itself and its partners.
At BellVista, Tim helps build technology companies, and believes that growth comes from doing the right thing for customers.
During his career, he has the opportunity to have run businesses from pre-revenue to over $1B annually. As a owner of market creation and expansion programs, his work has generated value on the top and bottom lines at each business stage from incubation (0-$10M), growth ($10M-$50M), expansion ($50M-$200M), geographic leader ($200M-$400M) and global market provider ($500M-$2B+) through organic operations, acquisitions and restructures.
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