Listen ⚡️ Deep Tech Series Ep. #1 | Adam Draper interviews Ian Rountree of Cantos
“Don't take an initial NO as an answer. If it's something you really, really want, get creative in convincing the other person that the stated rules aren't necessarily the rules. There’s powerful psychology in knowing that the other person wants what you're offering.”
- Ian Rountree
Listen to this Episode Here:
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
What inspires a venture firm to focus on deep tech? Deep tech, the near frontier of technology, has the power to revolutionize industries and address global challenges. Deep tech refers to cutting-edge technologies that are based on scientific advances and have the potential to create significant societal impact.
Ian Rountree, the Founder and General Partner at Cantos Ventures, is one individual who is genuinely inspired by deep tech and its transformative potential. Cantos is a venture fund that invests explicitly in startups working on deep tech solutions with the aim of addressing global challenges and making a meaningful difference in the world. Their focus areas include hardware and bio investing at the intersection of climate and industrials, life sciences and AI, aerospace and defense, and next-generation computing.
On this episode of Boost VC, Ian discussed his motivation to focus on deep tech and how his company makes the decision on the startups they invest in. Rather than simply investing based on market potential, Cantos underwrites the technical risk. Cantos is not only supporting groundbreaking innovations but also positioning themselves at the forefront of transformative change.
They discuss a key factor that drives Cantos' investment decisions, founder empathy. Ian emphasizes the importance of VCs seeing the entrepreneur as their customer and the limited partners as shareholders in the portfolio. By adopting this perspective, Cantos Ventures aims to build strong relationships with the founders they support, understanding their vision, and aligning their interests with the success of the portfolio companies.
Listen in on Ian's insights to make a global-scale impact by providing financial and strategic support to these visionary entrepreneurs. Cantos believes that it can contribute to a brighter and more sustainable future for everyone.
Topics Covered
Ian’s biggest accomplishment before age 20
Getting Vanderbilt to accept him off the waitlist
Refused to take NO as an answer
Ian’s take on who is the customer in venture capital
Founder = customer
LP = shareholder
What inspired Ian to focus on deep tech
Tackle big problems, e.g.: climate change, poverty
Deep tech startups outperformed the rest of the portfolio
How losing his father early informs Ian’s work
Feels hard deadline to career and life
Wants to play a small role in changing the world
The criteria Ian uses to decide if a startup is ‘important’
Nonzero chance of global-scale impact
Tackles climate, disease, armed conflict or poverty
How Ian defines deep tech
Taking technical risk rather than market risk
Cantos specializes in hardware and bio investing
How Ian thinks about growing the Cantos organization
From solo GP to 4 equal partners
‘Fire’ himself by age 55
What’s behind Benchmark’s equal partnership structure
Set up for generational turnover from the jump
May also be a consequence of early success
Why a deep tech VC doesn’t need to be technical
Ask an expert if a violation of physics involved
Startups that change the world challenge the status quo
What differentiates software investing from deep tech
Software involves market risk, easy to pivot
Deep tech involves technical risk, complex to pivot
Ian’s diligence criteria
Size of market, potential margins at scale
Founder who understands their WHY
Connect with Ian Rountree
Cantos https://cantos.vc/
Cantos on Twitter https://twitter.com/cantos
Ian on Twitter https://twitter.com/ianrountree
Ian on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ianrountree/
Near Frontier Podcast https://nearfrontier.castos.com/
Resources
Fred Wilson’s Blog ‘The VC’s Customer’ https://avc.com/2005/11/the_vcs_custome/
Fred Wilson’s Blog ‘The VC’s Customer (Continued)’ https://avc.com/2009/07/the-vcs-customer-continued/
Radiant https://www.radiantnuclear.com/
Tim Urban’s TED Talk on Procrastination https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator/c
Benchmark https://www.benchmark.com/
eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work by Randall E. Stross https://www.amazon.com/eBoys-Inside-Account-Venture-Capitalists/dp/0812930959
Benchmark Part I on the Acquired Podcast https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/benchmark-capital
Benchmark Part II on the Acquired Podcast https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/benchmark-part-ii-the-dinner
Union Square Ventures https://www.usv.com/
Cerebras https://www.cerebras.net/
Eric Vishria on Twitter https://twitter.com/ericvishria
Connect with Boost Vc
Boost VC Website https://www.boost.vc/
Boost VC on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/boostvc/
Boost VC on Twitter https://twitter.com/BoostVC
Boost VC on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/boost_vc/
Adam Draper
Managing Director at @BoostVC // Seed investor in @Coinbase, @Amplitude_HQ, @Benchling, Wave Mobile Money // Board Member of @Skybound I like comic books. #Bitcoin