- Sweat Equity Ventures recently announced it launched as a new Value Accelerator model of venture capital, which drives success for world-changing companies
Sweat Equity Ventures recently announced it launched as a new Value Accelerator model of venture capital, which drives success for world-changing companies at crucial high-growth moments. By seeing an opportunity in the startup ecosystem to focus entirely on creating value rather than deploying capital, the firm’s $30 million fund was created by former Greylock talent partner Dan Portillo and funded by limited partner Reid Hoffman.
All funds will cover the operating costs of SEV’s work on behalf of portfolio companies. Plus additional SEV partners and team bring expertise from Silicon Valley’s most influential companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, MongoDB, Slack, Stripe, Twitter, and Uber, among many others.
To move from idea to company to high-impact growth, it requires recruiting a stellar team, building an amazing product, and successfully bringing that product to market. And that arc is supported by the networks and capital acquired through traditional fundraising, but it is dramatically accelerated by a hands-on team of proven experts working alongside founders and their teams toward a common goal.
“I’ve seen first hand that while funding is important, a trusted partner who does the work is just as essential,” said Portillo. “What we’ve created is the perfect complement to traditional financial investments. We give founders what they often cobble together from a collection of consultants, advisors and the services arm of VC firms – but with a dedicated team with a proven track record and established working relationships, clear deliverables, and real skin in the game.”
Once a company closes a seed or A round, much of the capital is deployed to lock-in what is becoming harder and harder to find: senior operators ready to take on the risk inherent to startups. SEV delivers that in dedicated sprints that help companies dramatically accelerate value.
“When we needed help the most, the Sweat Equity team was there, their sleeves rolled-up, helping us with the gnarliest of challenges,” explained Stephen Piron, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Dessa (an SEV portfolio company). “Their bench is deep with the expertise necessary to build a world-changing business. And in cases where they can’t be helpful, they’re a phone call away from world-class experts who can.”
Before launching Sweat Equity, Portillo led the core talent team at Greylock Partners. And his work supported 17 venture investments and he helped scale dozens of portfolio companies. After seeing a growing need for a services-only investment offering, Portillo created Sweat Equity Ventures with Greylock’s support.
Sweat Equity works exclusively for common stock and establishes a vesting schedule to be aligned with the founder and the teams. And they bring a complete senior operating team to the table right when founders need them and embed directly to solve problems, help build road maps, and the teams who will deliver against them to bring a vision to life.
The current portfolio companies include Colony Labs, Dessa, Elev8, LTSE, Newfront, Nuro.ai, Swoop, Ubiquity6, and Verta.
