Coffee with Avent Bezuidenhoudt.
Funding, female VCs and dog walking with Avent Bezuidenhoudt.
I met with Avent Bezuidenhoudt. Formerly a Corporate Finance Director focused on VC deals and now a Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group. We discuss Avent’s experience as a female VC, the challenges of early stage funding and the trials and tribulations of home working (and why she’s a regimented Fitbit user).
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Avent Bezuidenhoudt is the Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group. She’s someone we’ve worked with at Santa Monica for a while now. We’ve helped three of her star start-ups (Yocuda, Healthunlocked and Fixr) Today though, we want to get to know her better.
How did she arrive in the world of venture capital (VC)?
Her funding experience begins in 1999 with a role as Corporate Finance Assistant Director for long-standing accountancy and business advisory firm, BDO LLP. After four-year spells at South East Growth Fund and Southwood Consulting, she became the Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group, a firm which provides tailored funding solutions and support for ambitious and innovative small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Curious to know what happens when working with a later stage scaleup, I ask Avent if she passes the work to someone else.
“Absolutely. A lot of the time. With a micro-finance background, most companies can't afford to have proper finance advisors so I can make a difference. I can help them grow.”
“I have worked with so many early-stage companies going through the same motions. Whatever industry they're in, it’s the same issues they’re facing. It's a bit like having a child. Each child might be different, but they all experience the same growing pains.”
“It’s all about knowing when to bring in different layers of management. You need to fill in the gaps. It's a constant struggle for the founder.”
“The advantage with bigger, better funded companies is that if there’s a gap, or an issue, they can throw money at the problem and hope that it’s solved. On the smaller end, you don’t have that luxury. You have to be more creative with how you plug those gaps. You don’t have cash to stuff in holes.”
At Santa Monica Talent, we work with a lot of startups. I was interested to know how Avent approaches difficult conversations with companies just starting out. Naturally, startups believe what they’re doing is new and exciting.
They don’t always want to be told that the issues they’re facing aren’t unique but actually similar challenges to the other 3500 startups in London.
They can get upset when you tell them, “I get it. I have seen this challenge before quite a lot.”
“For me, it's about the relationship that I've built up with the management teams. I hope that they trust me and I trust them enough to have an open discussion. And to do it in such a way that it's going to be taken on board.
But if they totally disagree with me, that's okay too - as long as their reasons for doing so are sound.”
I ask Avent if it’s this more hands-on approach that she enjoys most about working with smaller companies.
“It is. But I think it's so much more as well. I think the bigger the deal gets, the more it's about spreadsheets and there will be 20 people working on the spreadsheet.”
“On the small end, it will be me doing the deal on my own and looking after the company after the deal is done.
It's about so much more than just the forecasts and the numbers. It's about the person, the people running the business, their idea and their ability to make it happen.
Is the idea good enough? Are they good enough to deliver it? Are they tough enough to deliver it? So it becomes a lot more about the people and working with them and being involved. Not just numbers, and for me that's really important.”
A woman of Avent’s experience and knowledge is probably tired of answering questions about the current VC landscape and what might happen after Brexit. Nonetheless, it’s too big a question for me to not to ask.
“We do deals up to a £250k size budget. Which is really small. Even with that amount, that might be split over two or three rounds. Very few people are doing deals of that size.”
“The money that we're working with at the moment has mainly come from the local enterprise partnerships in different regions. So it is in those areas that we grow jobs, grow prosperity and fund deals. And it was after the last financial downturn that the Government started to look at this as a way to get out of it.
I'm hoping post-Brexit – whatever that means – the Government will continue to put more money into early stage businesses.”
“We're a private investment fund. The investment managers have only ever worked with small companies.
We're good at it because we know what we're doing. We know how to do the economics of deal such as the legals and all the rest of it and make it work with those numbers. It's what we know and I just hope it continues to get funded.”
Avent turns the conversation to what she thinks is a more immediate problem for young businesses: salaries for tech staff.
“For almost every one of my clients, the Founders and Directors are getting paid significantly less than their tech staff.
But what can you do? You have to have the tech staff and there just aren’t enough of them to go around. If their salaries get any higher, I don't know what these young companies are going to do.”
I suggest HealthUnlocked as an example of a startup that appears to have found a solution to that very problem. They target candidates with a passion for the healthcare sector.
“Absolutely. They have literally had people that will take jobs with them because they are doing good.
And I think that is becoming more and more important to younger people. It's not just about the money.
However, you have to pay the rent. And housing in the South East is a massive issue.
When you have young tech staff in central London you will always struggle. These young people have to take the biggest salary possible if they’re going to even think about owning a property.”
Having worked in Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney, I’ve seen how UK salaries compare with the rest of the world.
“I feel that London salaries are actually very low compared to other major hubs, It’s always interesting to see the reaction of US firms with London expansion plans. They really feel it’s excellent value for money on the quality and selection compared to San Fran or New York.”
I was keen to push Avent on her views on the lack of female VCs in the industry at the moment.
“Do you think there’s a lack of them? That’s interesting. Although in the minority, I’d say there are more now than there have ever been.”
Stats from a recent Diversity VC report, Women in UK Venture Capital 2017, state that 27% of the VC labour force are women, compared with 47% the overall UK workforce. Also, just 13% of decision makers in UK VC and 8% of the top 100 local venture firms are run by women.
“Hmm, they aren’t great stats. I do think those numbers used to be lower though.
In contrast, 43% of FSE’s equity investments has a female founder or board member and my most recent investment has a female founder that has already exited one successful company that she grew from start-up and is now looking to replicate that success.”
“Look at the girls’ A level results in maths, science and physics at the moment. The girls are doing fantastically well.
As a mother of three daughters, I know that the schools are working hard to address the lack of women in STEM based roles.
I don't know why it's not coming through strong enough or fast enough yet in the tech industry but they absolutely need to keep the pressure up and highlight those female role models that are leading the way.”
I want to know how Avent picks which startup she chooses to invest in and the people she works with. Is there a secret ingredient to the perfect Founder? Or is it all hunch work and intuition?
“Obviously their experience is a factor.
For me, there needs to be a passion for what they do. And enough belief in what they do to be giving up any previous big, successful careers to take a not so great salary because they think the risk is worth it.
They need to know it’s going to hurt a little bit. If I sense that in them, then I’m likely to back it. When you ask them about their business, they need to make you just get it.”
I can certainly see a link between the three companies that we’ve worked with from Avent’s portfolio. They all have charismatic, forward thinking and risk taking founders.
Avent’s list of criteria for investing into a founder
Ability to raise funds through the way they present themselves and their business
Innovative concept, with the discipline and commitment to follow through and make it happen
2nd or 3rd business is ideal
It was inspiring to sit and speak with Avent about her career so far. Her knowledge of her field and her guidance for the next generation of female founders is something that makes her a leader in her field.
THE BIT WE COPIED FROM TIM FERRIS
Your morning routine
I get up early, usually at about 6am. I can only ever get to the gym in the mornings, never evenings. I do three days [in the gym] a week, I’m there for 6:30am classes and circuits. Oh, and I walk my dogs at lunchtime as well.”
I’ve got two cocker spaniels. I'm very lucky to be able to work from home most of the time, so on my lunch break I'll take the dogs for a walk. When you get really wound up by work, it’s the best way to relax again.”
Working from home, you really have to try and get your exercise in, because if you’re in the office or commuting on the tube, you’re moving about. But for me, if I had to miss a day taking the dogs out, I might not even walk 500 metres. So that's why I'm really strict on myself with the Fitbit.
What are you reading at the moment?
I read absolute trash. I tend to blame this on the fact that I fall asleep very quickly when I read so books take forever to finish.
Favourite restaurants?
Oh, easy. The Five Fields in Chelsea. It is amazing. There's no big celebrity chef but it's so good.
Shoes V Trainers for the office
Definitely trainers!
Apple V Classic watch
Fitbit!