On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2021. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Chris ↗
In their words
A unicorn to me is a company that is growing really, really fast and also still break even or close to profitable. So — a different definition.
Why don't we raise a smaller fund, invest in a really tight-knit group of companies? We have fewer portfolio companies than we do employees — maybe 10 to 12 companies per fund.
Quick answers
Who is Chris Livingston?
A managing director on the Endeavor team at Vista Equity Partners. Before that he was a partner at Radian Capital, where he led minority and majority growth investments in software companies, and earlier a growth investor at Anthos Capital, Summit Partners and Partners Group. He appeared on TechTO's Founders & Funding in April 2021 as the investor behind Boast.AI's round.
How does he define a unicorn?
Not by valuation. On the TechTO stage he called a unicorn a company growing very fast that is also break-even or close to profitable — he had spent about twelve years by then investing in bootstrapped software businesses, and said the scarcity is growth that pays for itself, not a billion-dollar mark.
What was the argument for a smaller fund?
That the industry had drifted. He described cheques of $10 million going into companies with $10 million of ARR, then the ARR falling while cheque sizes and valuations rose, so founders were taking $30 to $50 million they did not need — and funds holding 30 to 50 companies where a few have to carry the rest. Radian's answer, as he put it in April 2021, was 10 to 12 companies per fund, fewer portfolio companies than employees, and close to half the team working full-time as operators.
What does that mean for the founders in the portfolio?
He said the model does not work if companies fail — there is no room for zeros — so the firm reserves capital for its own companies, tells founders they never have to raise again after a round if they do not want to, and works as an extension of the team. He described talking to Lloyed Lobo at Boast.AI almost daily.