Skip to content Skip to sidebar Skip to footer

Q&A: John Fein starts Firebrand Ventures to help other founders

Firebrand Ventures

As Managing Director of his own venture capital firm Firebrand Ventures, John Fein is a founder helping other founders.

His Kansas City-based company is a seed stage venture capital fund that invests in other companies located in the Midwest.

“My job is to find exceptional entrepreneurs that are doing really interesting things in an innovative way and support them,” Fein, 50, says.

Fein says he’s asked by other founders asking how to engage in a community and how to get investment.

He answers those questions, plus a few of ours are below:

Explain your current role

JF I’m the Managing Director for Firebrand Ventures, which started about a year ago. We are a seed stage venture fund that invests in software companies in the greater Midwest. The way I describe it for our fund is a territory boarded from Austin to Minneapolis, over to Boulder to Columbus, Ohio. That’s the area we target, my job is to find exceptional entrepreneurs that are doing really interesting things in an innovative way and support them.

When thinking about the Midwest, how do you view the startup communities?

JF There are the top communities in the Midwest that have been around for a long time as startup ecosystems and are more mature, like Chicago, Boulder and Austin in that top-tier. Then there are a variety of other startup communities that aren’t as mature but have a lot going for them, like Des Moines, Kansas City, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cincinnati.

I know Kansas City aspires to be a self-sustaining ecosystem but sometimes it just takes time to build companies, attract more capital, get more engagement with universities and corporations, these are all key elements of a startup ecosystem.

But fantastic founders can be found anywhere. It’s a great work ethic in the Midwest, and for better or worse Midwest founders tend to keep their heads down and be more revenue focused. They may be a humble and almost to a fault, these are all qualities I respect.

What makes those mature startup communities successful? Longevity?

JF Having a really great university system that puts talent into the communities. I’m a big believer in density in the communities, having a large number of founders and hopefully investors in a relatively small geographic space. Other communities like Kansas City are starting to figure that out, one way is with coworking and PlexPod Westport Commons is where I have my office. It’s going to house hundreds of startups in one building.

Density is a huge part of it and another thing that these more mature ecosystems have is longevity, they’ve been doing it for a longer period of time. Startups grow, they get acquired or make a profitable exit, then that capital and that talent is back into the ecosystem to grow more startups. Kansas City and Des Moines hasn’t realized that cycle yet, but those other communities have based on the fact that they’ve been at it longer.

What is the startup community like in Kansas City?

JF It has had great growth over the last three or four years. We need more engagement between the universities and corporations and the startup communities. There’s more capital in Kansas City than there has ever been, which is great for startups. And as those areas improve we are going to see more successful startups. Kansas City is going to get there, but we are probably five years into a 15 year cycle. So we have to work hard to put those pieces in place and just give them time to grow.

Thoughts on the Des Moines startup community?

JF I need to get back up there. I think the Des Moines startup system is great and size wise almost a smaller version of Kansas City. Because Kansas City is one of the most welcoming communities you will ever experience. And I see Des Moines being very much the same way. It has a ton of potential and already has a lot of the right things in place. Sometimes it’s just a matter of time. It’s high on my list to get back there soon because I love the Des Moines community.

Is there any advice you would give to the people trying to grow within a startup community?

Start showing up, it’s really not that complicated, start showing up at startup events. Even if you have a day job, take one or two nights a week and make sure you show up and start meeting people. Because if you make that a habit, you naturally start becoming a part of the community. People will start expecting you. Just showing up, being present and engaging is super important.

You say you are always asked how to get investment…well, how do you?

There’s this famous blog post from an investor in Los Angeles named Mark Suster from Upfront ventures who wrote this blog post about an approach called, “Invest in lines, not dots.” If you are looking on a graph of touch points with somebody, if you have enough over time those dots becomes lines. And that’s what I say to founders wanting to get investment, don’t just go out and pitch somebody. Build authentic relationships with people.

When you do that what you are essentially doing is building your own support system and your own little community. Once you have that it’s incredibly powerful and a lot easier to do things like raise money.

3 Comments

  • Brock
    Posted August 22, 2017 at 7:59 pm

    Great Article. I am trying to get my startup off the ground in Des Moines and I found this article very helpful

    • Joey Aguirre
      Posted August 22, 2017 at 9:52 pm

      Great to hear, thanks for reading and good luck with your company.

  • pablowblog
    Posted August 22, 2017 at 10:07 pm

    I think the ecosystem to choose as a startup, depends a lot on the business model. For example, some business models can take hold in smaller communities, and replicate community by community, whereas others I think really do need a network effect from the outset, that includes many startups and investors that specialize within that industry sector. Otherwise it’s like talking to somebody about the nuances of baseball, but all they know if tennis! doh!

Comments are closed.

Q&A: John Fein starts Firebrand Ventures to help other founders | Clay & Milk
A central Iowa ag-tech accelerator has secured more backers and finally has a name. The Greater Des Moines Partnership first announced the accelerator last year, naming four initial investors. On Monday, the Partnership said the program will be called the "Iowa AgriTech Accelerator" and named three new investors. The new investors include Grinnell Mutual, Kent Corp. and Sukup Manufacturing, all Iowa companies. They join investors Deere & Co., Peoples Co., Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Co. and DuPont Pioneer. Each investor has agreed to put up $100,000 for the first year of the accelerator. Startups entering the program will receive $40,000 in seed funding in exchange for 6 percent equity. Tej Dhawan, an angel investor and local startup mentor, is serving as interim director until the AgriTech Accelerator names a permanent leader. Dhawan held a similar role with the GIA before Brian Hemesath was named as managing director. As interim director, Dhawan said his main job includes hiring the accelerator's executive director, establishing a business structure and initial recruiting for the first cohort. The accelerator will place few filters, such as location and product, on the applicant pool, Dhawan said. "When you’re seeking innovation, innovation can come from every corner of the world so why restrict ourselves," he said. One area the the AgriTech Accelerator won't recruit from is biotech. For its first cohort, the AgriTech Accelerator will work out of the GIA's space in Des Moines' East Village, Dhawan said. A future, permanent home is still to be decided. The accelerator's program will host startups from mid-July through mid-October, ending with an event connected to the annual World Food Prize. The GIA, which the AgriTech Accelerator is based on, also ends with presentations at an industry event. The accelerator has also started lining up a mentor pool. The Iowa Corn Growers Association, Iowa Soybean Association and the Iowa Pork Producers Association have agreed to provide mentors, as has Iowa State University. While the AgriTech Accelerator is loosely based off of the GIA, it will differ in its business structure, Dhawan said. The GIA runs through a for-profit model for both operations and its investment fund. The AgriTech Accelerator will have a nonprofit model for its operations and a for-profit setup for its fund. Dhawan said the nonprofit model is being used so the accelerator can better work with other nonprofit partners, such as trade associations. "These are all organizations that are nonprofits and can be amazing stakeholders without ever having to be investors in the accelerator," he said. "It becomes easier to work with trade associations in their nonprofit role when we are also a nonprofit." When it's up and running, the AgriTech Accelerator would be one of a handful of ag-focused startup development programs in Iowa. Others include the Ag Startup Engine out of Iowa State University and the Rural Ventures Alliance from Iowa MicroLoan. Matthew Patane is the managing editor and co-founder of Clay & Milk. Send him an email at mpatane@clayandmilk.com.
This Pop-up Is Included in the Theme
Best Choice for Creatives
Purchase Now