Zoom AMA #7: Simon Cook, Chief Investment Officer at Draper Esprit, our VC investor, 21st May @ 8PM

Freetrade Chat šŸ”„
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Hey Iā€™ve got a few questions relating to your experiences and knowledge as a VC investor:

  1. What are some of the companies you passed on that end up becoming a huge success? And why did you felt it wasnā€™t a good idea to invest at the time.

  2. What do you think is the no.1 cause for most startups to fail?

  3. Do you feel going forward VC will be willing to do more crowdfunding collaboration with their portfolio companies?

  4. What are the future trends youā€™re most excited about?

  5. What blueprint (Examples of other success stories) do you feel freetrade can emulate that will help them scale and grow successfully?

Kind regards.

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Although VC is a step beyond seed investing; in your opinion at what point does a start-up become exciting to an investor (asides from growth potential obviously)? What do you look out for? And how do you come across the opportunities?

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Do you view freetrade as a start up hopeful or one of several players now in British investing firms?

Do you think within 10 years it will be bigger than HL?

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I hope everyone is excited! We will post the Zoom link at 8 PM.

A great article from the Telegraph that gives a bit more context about Simon and Draper Esprit:

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Really enjoyed that. Thanks Viktor and Simon

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Cheers guys! That was acešŸ’ŖšŸ¼

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Thank you very much for your time Sir.

This AMA had a masterclass feel to it. Much appreciated.

I like your vibe.

I think I understand your answer to my questions. It makes sense. Thanks

I feel like jumping into Draper Esprit site and start looking into it. Gonna sleep on it for a couple of days to cool it off.

All the best

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Fantastic, thanks Simon and the team

This was the book Simon recommended. Downloading it on audible as we speak!

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The discussion was more on a high level without getting into details. Some of the ponts mentioned:

  • The main takeaway for investors, I guess, is that Draper Esprit is looking to double down on the winners in their portfolio with a round of multiple tens of millions and participating in the relatively small crowdfunding round just a couple of months after the series A was not something they usually do.

Freetrade has to deliver on the promised gross margin to be a candidate for a large series B.

  • So, all eyes on delivering the p&l from the pitch deck and the promised product improvements.

  • Regarding the competition the main takeaway is that their focus is to target the passionate founders capable to successfully pivot in case of any change of competitive/market landscape and then to double down on the winners

  • Reading advice: 100 baggers

  • Was a little surprised that Adam was not part of the call. Hope that everything is fine on his side.

There were some other points raised about investing and how they manage their portfolio. Will leave to others to comment if they will.

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Wut?

I was watching and loving it. I thought Viktor was great.

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May be one thing to add is that the work that has been done on the internal tech stack is of absolute importance as it allows start ups to lower the costs and bring new business models to the market. Cheers to @Ian

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Good to hear, thank you!

Victor, indeed, did a great job of hosting the AMA.

Have a nice evening everyone!

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This was a great AMA. There was a lot to take away from it. Seems like FT will benefit a lot from Simons knowledge and expertise. And itā€™s great to have him on board. Well done Viktor for getting through most of the important questions. Hopefully you guys can organise another one in the foreseeable future.

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For me some of the main points were:

A firm is only worth is current valuation if you believe its financial forecasts (especially revenue and margin).

Expect the competition to catch up. Most firms have perhaps a two year lead time but need to continue to innovate or they will lose this.

One of the keys to be successful is often to wholesale your technology/platform to other providers

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Thank you Freetrade for arranging last nights webinar , itā€™s another reason you guys stand out from the crowd. It was great to hear from someone of Simons experience what his thoughts are on Freetrade but also his thoughts on future trends. Thanks again guys for going above and beyond. :pray:

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What Simon said was, in relation to Invest by Freetrade, is that cheap plumbing is a major competitive advantage.

Transferwise did it, and it was able to sell it to their nemesis, the banks. They are also Draper Esprit portfolio, and provider of cheapest FX conversion due to cheap plumbing.

Regarding competition, for him itā€™s product leadership and thatā€™s what he likes in the Freetrade team, especially the passionate, product centric CEO. Thatā€™s why he invested.

He also said that right now is a once-in-a-generation opportunity: fintechs replacing legacy finance companies. ā€œFinance is the biggest categoryā€.

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Deleted postā€¦ reread and this had already been said.

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Freetrade team, is there a recording of this webinar I could see please. I mist it totally. Thanks

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Same, is there a recording of this AMA?

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I couldnā€™t attend this one, sounds like I missed a good one.

Looking at the Draper Espirit website, it says 3 vehicles, PLC, EIS and VCT

If I understand correctly, PLC is the GROW stock, you invest by buying shares.

EIS I think you apply for a subscription, Ā£25,000 minimum

VCT you can apply to join, with a minimum buy in investment of Ā£6000