Pedro Torres-Picón Founder & Managing Director, Quotidien Ventures @pedrotp

1. How to:
Build an Investment Thesis
Pedro Torres-Picón
Founder, Quotidian Ventures

2. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
What’s a thesis?
the·sis - /ˈTHēsis/
noun
a statement or theory that is put forward
as a premise to be maintained or proved

3. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
What do you invest in?

4. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
What type of investor are you?
Opportunistic
vs
Sector/Trend Focused
vs
Thesis Driven

5. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Opportunistic
Sector/Trend Focused
Thesis Driven
What type of investor are you?

6. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
What’s your thesis?
Ask yourself
two questions...

7. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Q1: What do you invest in?
“In investing, you want to stick to the things that
you’re best suited to do, where you’re the very
best firm possible.”
- Ben Horowitz, A16Z

8. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Q2: What do you believe?
“What do you strongly believe that very few
people agree with you on?”
- Peter Thiel, Founders Fund

9. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Quotidian invests in...
Companies transforming
large, old-school industries
with software.

10. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
… and we believe
Founder/Market Fit is the most
important quality to look for in
founders in this space.

11. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Why have a thesis?

12. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
“Regardless of whether you are Dave McClure or Union
Square Ventures, you need an investment thesis and you
need to stick to it.
And I believe that you need to make it public, articulate it
well, and make sure everyone, particularly your target
entrepreneurs, know what it is and why.”
- Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures

13. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Why have a thesis?
Reason #1:
Your thesis is your marketing
strategy

14. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Why have a thesis?
Reason #2:
Focus and discipline make you a
better investor

15. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Why have a thesis?
Reason #3:
Your domain expertise will add
value to your companies

16. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Why have a thesis?
Reason #4:
You will build a network of like-
minded people

17. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
OK, I have a thesis
Now
what?

18. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
You should stick to it
”Once you have a thesis, you need to stick to it. There are
all kinds of temptations that come along to invest outside
of the core investment thesis. You have to resist them.
Discipline is about sticking to what you know and what you
believe in totally and completely.”
- Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures

19. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
But know when to evolve it
”Strong opinions, weakly held.”
- Paul Saffo, Institute for the Future

20. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
And have an Anti-Thesis!
One thing I learned from a smart VC friend who does thesis
driven investing: if you have a thesis, you also need to have
an anti-thesis. It's a good discipline to make sure you are
really taking a position and not just adopting a theme.
- Chris Dixon, A16Z

21. Pedro Torres-Picón @pedrotp
Further reading...
Fred Wilson’s Blog - avc.com
Brad Feld’s Blog - feld.com
Dave’s Moneyball Thesis:
bit.ly/davesthesis

22. THAT’S ALL!
Email me:
p@quotidian.co
Follow me:
@pedrotp