Quake Capital is a seed and early stage venture capital fund and accelerator program. Through its accelerator program, teams receive world-class coaching, personalized mentorship, and access to our extensive network of investors and strategic partners.
All Quake investments pass through its accelerator program in one of its four geographic locations: New York Santa Monica, Austin, and Seattle (at the end of 2019). The goal of its 12-week program is to get each company ready to raise money on a larger scale. Quake focuses primarily on teaching founders how to craft a great pitch and how to close a deal when the time comes.
I spoke with Arnaud Auvray, venture associate with Quake, to get a sense of the types of companies they accelerate, what they look for in a company, and how Quake prepares them to secure additional investment capital.
There is no typical company says Auvray. Quake is industry agnostic, although they do focus on tech companies that are easy to scale. Quake does not fund pharmaceutical companies, restaurants, consultancies, or other local service-oriented companies.
Quake is particularly interested in companies featuring a solid team in a growth market already producing $10-$20M in annual revenue.
Auvray says Quake offers two investment dates per year. It receives 500 applications, on average, per location. That translates to 2,000 startups that apply per location. (PLEASE CONFIRM ACCURACY). Potential candidates apply from all over the world, including Columbia, Europe, and Asia.
Quake will whittle applications down to 100-150 companies. Quake screens them again and whittles that list to 50 video interviews. From there, Quake will meet with 20 companies and typically make 15 investments.
Quake invests in one percent of those companies it agrees to accelerate. Quake works with 16 companies at a time, depending on the office, and invests approximately $160,000-$200,000 per company and takes a six percent ownership.
As part of a companies 12-week acceleration, Quake provides office space, mentorship, and 1-on-1 coaching meetings. The program focuses on marketing strategy, legal and accounting basics, business analytics, perfecting the pitch, networking events, and more.
I asked Auvray what Quake looks for in a founder. He said Quake looks at a couple factors. First, can the CEO or founder lead a team and move the company to the next level? Second, do they have previous experience or a strong industry background? Do they know what they’re talking about and have deep industry connections? Have they run two or three successful start ups in the past?
How important is body language? Auvray says he can usually tell in the video interviews if the CEO has a sales background or a tech background by their body language and the vocabulary they use.
“I am fascinated by what your body language can communicate in an interview.”
I took a class in school. I was fascinated by what your body can communicate in an interview, including how you behave and what calm comfortable body language looks like.”
Quake has several success stories. Auvray highlighted a Bogota, Columbia-based company that uses artificial intelligence to improve internet advertising. When Quake invested in $150,000 them, the company had an initial valuation of $1.6 million. A couple months ago, the company was valued at $24 million.
Auvray says Quake believed in the CEO. He is brilliant. An MBA graduate with 15 years of experience in marketing.
The culmination of Quake’s accelerator program is Demo Day, an exclusive event featuring Quake’s investor network and members of the entrepreneurship community. Quake’s network includes more than 300 family offices, venture funds, and high net worth investors. To date, participants in Quake’s past two accelerator programs have raised over $35M in follow-on capital, with over 80% of participants successfully raising a follow-on round.
One of the common themes I’m starting to realize with investors and accelerators is how much they empathize with entrepreneurs. They see the humanity. They realize they are people too. Everything can change from one day to the next. They are taking on risk by building a company. And they recognize the hard work and sacrifice it takes to build, grow, and take the company to the next level.
To apply for Quake’s accelerator program, submit here.
For more on how Lights Up Action Co.’s executive presence training can help your investor pitch, please contact me.