Laconia’s Post

Our Q2 newsletter is almost here! Interested in the latest trends in venture capital? Our newsletter dives deep into Q2 data and the current state of the industry. And that's just the start... Discover our exciting new investments, get a recap of our NYC Tech Week events, and join us in congratulating Jeffrey Silverman on becoming an Adjunct Professor. Don't miss out! Sign up for the full update here: http://eepurl.com/gCqVy9

Join Mirit Lugassi and Geri Kirilova on July 24 for an exclusive B2B Founder Lunch. We'll kick off with a brief fireside chat, followed by an engaging lunch conversation. This event is limited to 10 pre-seed to seed-stage B2B SaaS Founders. Please complete the registration questions to help us curate a high-quality group of attendees. A special thanks to Andrew Chang and Dorothy Chang of Lynx Collective for inviting us. We look forward to speaking with you all! Sign up here: https://lu.ma/iq7d0ilo

Join us for the Neighborhood VC Coffee Meetup! Mirit Lugassi will be at Flatiron with Tanya Malkani of BDMI at 8:30 AM on July 18th! These coffee meetups are a fantastic opportunity to connect with local VCs and fellow founders at the start of their startup journeys. Thank you nextNYC for organizing this series of meet ups across the city, and we hope to see you all there! To register for this event, click here: https://lnkd.in/gdQcvT-V

We are incredibly grateful to be recognized on the list of the top NYC founder first investors. Laconia’s commitment to founders goes beyond providing capital; we help founders navigate the complexities of building and scaling their companies. A special congratulations to Jeffrey Silverman for his dedication to mentoring, providing invaluable advice, and offering tangible support to the startup community. Congratulations to all the investors recognized: Nick Adams from Differential Ventures, Lisa Burton O'Toole, PhD from HearstLab, Richard Odior from Zeal Capital Partners, Alex Hornick from Purple Sage Ventures, Lauren Reeves from MGV, Ashley Ryder from VamosVentures, Jeremy Kagan from Textbook Ventures, Jesse Middleton from Flybridge Capital, Stephan Cizmar from Lorimer Ventures, Vivin Hegde from Zacua Ventures, Iynna Halilou from The MBA Fund, Owen Willis from Opal Ventures, Rachel ten Brink from Red Bike Capital, Shashi Srikantan from Level Up Ventures, Moshe Bellows from Maccabee Ventures, Wyeth Coulter from Point72 Ventures, Claire Goldsmith from BoxGroup, Eric Ong from Lightbank, Adam G. from 640 Oxford, Ilan Abehassera from Origins Ventures, Jay Estefani C. from m[x]v Capital, Megan Ruan from GoldHouse Ventures, Charles Hudson from Precursor Ventures, and Jenny Fielding from Everywhere Ventures You make New York City a thriving ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship!

Seed investing remains crucial and promising in venture capital. To maximize its potential, we need to address three key areas: 🔵Clarify Stages and Benchmarks We need clear definitions for "seed," "venture capital," and other stages to ensure consistent discussions. Disaggregating return data will help create accurate benchmarks for different strategies. Setting ambitious targets that reflect seed investing's true potential will attract more LPs. 🔵Diversify Asset Allocation Seed investing thrives on diversification due to its high mean return and outlier-driven nature. LP portfolios should be large to capture the upside, while GPs must balance discipline and diversification. Leveraging technological advances can enhance deal capacity and market coverage. 🔵Rethink Strategic Differentiation Conventional differentiators like geographic arbitrage and network centrality often don’t correlate with returns. We need deeper analysis to identify what truly drives outperformance and provides structural advantages. By refining definitions, optimizing allocation, and rethinking strategies, we can unlock the full potential of seed investing.

Founders often ask what makes a "sure" venture capital investment opportunity. While there's no universal answer, here's our approach at Laconia. 🧠 Our Focus We invest in the digitization of legacy industries, targeting companies using technology to solve high pain-point problems and inefficiencies in existing markets. We back transformative, not incremental, solutions. 💸 Pre-Seed & Seed B2B Software We invest in pre-seed and seed-stage B2B software companies in the US and Canada. Typically we invest $250,000 and $1,000,000 in rounds of $1M-$4M. We are happy to lead or co-lead rounds. Our sectors include fintech, e-commerce enablement, supply chain, hospitality tech, retail tech, digital health, and more. Key Considerations ➡️ Capital Efficiency: We prefer companies that can achieve "break-even optionality" early. B2B models are typically more capital efficient than B2C. ➡️ Software Scalability: We focus on scalable software solutions and avoid capital-intensive segments like energy, agriculture, hardware, and two-sided marketplaces. ➡️ Business Resilience: We support companies intensely, focusing on those solving mission-critical problems with inevitable solutions. ➡️ Market Validation: We seek evidence of customer demand, product stickiness, and high retention to ensure the product is a "must-have." ➡️ Geographic Focus: We invest primarily across the US and Canada and can deploy up to 20% of our fund internationally. 💪 Our Strengths We specialize in B2B software, leveraging our expertise in B2B sales, marketing, and business development. Our network allows us to provide key customer introductions early. While no investment is a sure thing, understanding our strategy can help founders align their pitches and businesses with our criteria. Does this sound like you? If so, reach out to us here: https://lnkd.in/gY6ZbSBa

On Tuesday founders joined the Scroobious panel discussion for an engaging and insightful session on effectively pitching AI in their solutions. Mirit Lugassi, along with Brent Willess from Founder Collective and Claire Elizabeth Smith from SpringTide Ventures, shared their experiences and perspectives, providing invaluable tips on how to discuss AI with investors and highlighted common pitfalls to avoid. Thank you to Scroobious for inviting Mirit, and for organizing a fantastic panel discussion. We look forward to more such collaborative and informative events in the future! If you are a founder building in B2B software, reach out here: https://lnkd.in/gY6ZbSBa

At Laconia, we pride ourselves on more than just investing in companies—we invest in people. Since our journey with Ocrolus began, we have worked hand-in-hand to overcome obstacles and foster growth. Our commitment goes beyond financial support to building genuine, lasting relationships with our portfolio companies. We are grateful to have done so with the team at Ocrolus.

Our very own Mirit Lugassi was on the Unlocking Venture Capital Podcast talking about: 👉 Leveraging a legal background in VC 🤝 Supporting diverse, underrepresented founders 🛠 And tackling systemic challenges in the VC industry Listen to her episode, An Approach to Overcoming Barriers in the VC Space, here: https://lnkd.in/ggdkw4py

At Laconia, our journey is rooted in a shared passion for entrepreneurship and a commitment to redefining venture capital. Founded by Jeffrey Silverman and David Arcara, Laconia’s story began after years of navigating sales, marketing, and management roles in media and tech. 💡 Jeffrey and David’s paths converged through angel investing, where they discovered a mutual dedication to supporting visionary founders. Driven by a desire to blend the agility of angel investing with the rigor of institutional venture capital, Laconia was born 🚀. Our team, including Mirit Lugassi and Geri Kirilova, operates as a cohesive unit. With Geri’s decade of early-stage investment experience and Mirit’s background as an operator turned investor, we integrate operational expertise with institutional-level infrastructure. This synergy harnesses not only capital but also the knowledge and networks of our LPs, empowering us to provide unparalleled support to our portfolio companies during their early stages of development 🌱. Today, we ensure that every investment decision reflects our core values of transparency, collaboration, and community. As we continue to grow, we remain dedicated to building not just better returns, but better businesses 🌟.