Instructor: Clint Korver, Managing Director, Ulu Ventures Instructor: Trina Weller, VP of Analytics and Operations, Ulu Ventures Agenda: This four-hour workshop is designed for those interested in learning how decision analysis has been applied in venture capital. Clint & Trina will provide an overview of venture capital, the challenges with traditional VC decision making, and how Ulu’s Decision Analytic approach produces higher quality decisions and has led to industry leading performance for Ulu. Some of the challenges Ulu encountered in applying decision analysis in an industry surprisingly resistant to data and analysis will also be covered. Venture Capitalists (VCs) could be poster children for cognitive biases. Most VCs attribute their success to “having a magic touch.” Forbes even celebrates the best performing VCs each year with their Midas List. Clint & Trina will also describe Ulu’s approach to portfolio construction. In most asset classes, returns are normally distributed and portfolio construction is an exercise in risk reduction. In early stage venture capital, however, returns follow a power law distribution and portfolio construction becomes more important than just risk reduction. The vast majority of early stage VC investments return little to nothing and a small number of outliers drive all of industry’s profit. This asset level difference drives the need for a different portfolio construction toolset and mindset. Clint will present a framework for venture portfolio construction and show how Ulu is using this framework to increase the odds of strong fund performance. The workshop will be half presentation and half discussion, driven by the interests of the audience. Who should attend this workshop? This workshop will be of interest to the new practitioner and the seasoned professional. Instructors ; Clint Korver, Ph.D. & Trina Weller |
CLINT KORVER | | Clint is a Managing Director and co-founder of Ulu Ventures, a $66m seed stage venture firm investing in enterprise IT and FinTech companies from Stanford and Silicon Valley. Over the last 11 years, Clint and his partner Miriam Rivera have invested in over 130 startups, including Palantir, SoFi, Clever, Krux (acquired by Salesforce), Blue River Technology (acquired by John Deere), and Lex Machina (acquired by RELX Group). Prior to venture investing, Clint co-founded four Silicon Valley startups which provided tools to help individuals or organizations make better decisions. An active supporter of entrepreneurship within the Stanford community, Clint taught entrepreneurship in the School of Engineering; mentors at StartX, Stanford’s accelerator; and co-founded Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, an alumni group with over 1500 members. Clint is a Kauffman Fellow, and holds a PhD and an MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford working with Ron Howard, and a BA in mathematics from Grinnell College where he served as Chair of the Board of Trustees. |
TRINA WELLER | | Trina is the VP of Analytics and Operations at Ulu Ventures. She supports efforts to systematize Ulu’s decision analytic approach to evaluating startups and building robust portfolios, and leads initiatives to build more efficient, data-driven processes. Trina brings to Ulu over 25 years of experience in decision education, software, and consulting in multiple industries including technology, telecommunications, energy, automotive, and life sciences. Trina is also a member of the Executive Education practice at Strategic Decisions Group. She regularly leads courses at client organizations and in executive education programs at Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin. Trina holds an MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University. She is a Fellow of the Society of Decision Professionals |