Hummingbird Ventures has built an astonishing track record – all while staying out of the limelight. Its secret to success? A meticulous approach to identifying outlier founders.
Super useful piece! Love the detail on the fund. My fav bit is the "Disruption is disruptive. If you are to be a serious backer of this sector, if that is your real goal (and not the associated glamor of playing the role), then you must meet reality on its terms. It is messy". Could not agree more!
Thanks for the gift of this piece Mario, you've packed a lot of goodness into this. It's guiding my thinking on my next move as I wonder about the year ahead.
"Hummingbird believes that every 'legendary' company goes through two to three near-death moments." Nobody wants to hear it, but: as a startup, you need those near-extinction level events to focus everyone's attention. Those are the company building moments that really rally everybody to the cause and get them focused on the things that need to happen. Pain is instructive. I know it sounds like I’m just trying to attach a silver lining to something that is actually just a big, gigantic turd, but those are the campfire stories that are told later. How the tsunami was coming, how we rallied together and how we changed the tides.
Totally agree. I met a founder recently that talked about the fact that his startup needed "more war stories." He wasn't going to look for them, of course, but the idea of readying oneself for that intensity was admirable and productive, I thought.
This was quite simply the best article I have read this year Mario - well done and an incredible profile, in vivid high definition, of an incredible firm
Super useful piece! Love the detail on the fund. My fav bit is the "Disruption is disruptive. If you are to be a serious backer of this sector, if that is your real goal (and not the associated glamor of playing the role), then you must meet reality on its terms. It is messy". Could not agree more!
Thanks so much, Colin! The more I learn about entrepreneurship, the realer that facet of it becomes to me.
Thanks for the gift of this piece Mario, you've packed a lot of goodness into this. It's guiding my thinking on my next move as I wonder about the year ahead.
That is so wonderful to hear! Thanks for sharing that, Kai. Wishing you all my best for 2024.
"Hummingbird believes that every 'legendary' company goes through two to three near-death moments." Nobody wants to hear it, but: as a startup, you need those near-extinction level events to focus everyone's attention. Those are the company building moments that really rally everybody to the cause and get them focused on the things that need to happen. Pain is instructive. I know it sounds like I’m just trying to attach a silver lining to something that is actually just a big, gigantic turd, but those are the campfire stories that are told later. How the tsunami was coming, how we rallied together and how we changed the tides.
Totally agree. I met a founder recently that talked about the fact that his startup needed "more war stories." He wasn't going to look for them, of course, but the idea of readying oneself for that intensity was admirable and productive, I thought.
This was quite simply the best article I have read this year Mario - well done and an incredible profile, in vivid high definition, of an incredible firm
Thank you so much! That means a great deal coming from you, Niki. It was such a pleasure to research and write this story.