Checking Back In With StageDotO
Early-stage investment fund StageDotO Ventures made a splash in 2019 when it moved from Seattle to Boise and announced its intention to create a $50 million venture capital fund to invest in Idaho startups.
Now, it has 20 early-stage companies among two funds. The plan is to invest in another 12-15 companies over the next two years, said General Partner Matt Kurman. “We’re seeing a lot of great opportunities,” Kurman said.
, Matt Kurman
Economic impact
The current economic conditions have evolved over the last 18 months. “It’s been an interesting time in the market,” Kurman said. “As investors, we’re finding excellent long-term opportunities. Founders are being forced to grow their businesses with more discipline, keeping their burn rate down. It’s not just ‘growth at all costs,’ but much smarter growth, with a renewed focus on unit economics and go to market strategy that will lead to a company’s first 10, 15, 20 customers and $1 million in revenue.”
The competition for talent
“We see Boise as a talent-rich ecosystem that has all of the right characteristics to succeed over the next 20 years and beyond,” Kurman said.
Kurman attributes the advantage of early-stage talent here to the lower cost of living, access to enterprise experience, and better quality of life in the Treasure Valley, compared with regions such as the Bay Area and Seattle.
And that’s not just for technical talent, but also for sales, marketing, customer success, and other roles as well, Kurman added. Often, StageDotO will help founders with early hiring decisions and connect portfolio companies to Boise’s rich talent pool.
“A founder’s time is their most valuable commodity and we work hard to support them strategically and tactically, so they can focus on the things that make them special,” Kurman said. “One of the ways that we support founders is by helping them grow their teams, which could mean anything from sales, marketing, customer success, operations, or product and engineering, depending on the company. We have found that there is a lot of talent in the greater Boise ecosystem that’s hungry for the challenges, experiences, and upside that startups have to offer.”
Early stage
And when Kurman says startups, he means really early stage ones.
As befits its name, StageDotO focuses on seed rounds, with follow-on through Series A and Series B rounds. “For the right founding team, we will invest as early as ideation/pre-revenue, and we have written initial checks post revenue as well, but the concentration of our first checks come at the point of [minimum viable product]/commercialization,” Kurman said. “We invest early, engage our full partnership in various areas of company building over the first two to three years, and help our companies position themselves for a healthy Series A. Our focus is to partner with founders with deep domain expertise, be highly engaged, and advise along the early stage funding path, creating a lasting foundation that can scale for years to come.”
Who funds the StageDotOs of the world?
Investors in organizations such as StageDotO are called limited partners, and tend to fall into several categories including family offices, insurance companies, RIAs, high net worth individuals, fund of funds, pension funds and endowments.
StageDotO’s success in raising funds stems from the track record of its first two funds, its reputation for company building, and brand recognition not just in Boise but throughout the Mountain West and Pacific Northwest.
“Many investors are enamored with the potential of Mountain West cities like Boise. We’ve created a compelling vehicle for investors to get early-stage venture exposure to Idaho and the Mountain West,” Kurman said.
Another advantage is StageDotO’s stellar reputation with founders, Kurman said. “We go very deep when partnering with our founders,” he said. “We are company builders, not financial engineers. We help founders build their businesses and believe that companies are built with one thousand 10-minute phone calls rather than ten 1,000-minute phone calls. We are confident in our approach, and founders appreciate the true partnership that we deliver.”
Long run
Kurman is StageDotO’s newest general partner, having joined in early 2023. He is based in Seattle and travels to Boise several times a month.
Before joining StageDotO, Kurman was an early employee at three “unicorn” [companies that reach a valuation of at least $1 billion] startups: Zulily, Uber, and his last role at Convoy, a digital freight marketplace that most recently raised its Series E at a $3.8 billion valuation.
Kurman gained valuable experience as an operator throughout his career and is applying that background to help StageDotO’s startups succeed. “I had always wanted to make the move into venture capital, and after gaining experience at three unicorn startups I understand the struggle that entrepreneurs face and what it means to provide real value to founders in company-building mode. Whether it's go-to-market, finding product-market fit,hiring, partnerships, operations – you name it, I love to lean in.”
His prior experience should also prove valuable as StageDotO embarks on making its next set of investments. “I’ve been on the inside of companies that have gone from an idea to a unicorn and I’ve seen their unique attributes and patterns firsthand. It’s helpful to be able to draw on this experience when evaluating new companies for potential investment,” Kurman said.
Kurman said he was also attracted to StageDotO’s commitment to the region. “One thing that stands out for me is StageDotO’s differentiated approach and dedication to building this firm with a stronghold in Boise, while leveraging the rest of the Mountain West region. We have seen the change in this startup ecosystem over the last 5 years, and we look forward to continuing our role in helping the next set of exceptional companies come out of the region.”