An Alternative Approach to VC for Individual Investors
What it means to be “better together”
At Alumni Ventures Group, we have an informal tagline of “better together.” This isn’t simply a feel-good statement – it’s a formula for smart venture investing. Our investors know that it’s our “connected capital” that gets us into deals that few individuals could access.
Beware the One-Off
It’s true that many investors we speak to are familiar with venture, and may have even dabbled. For most, that experience usually involves being approached by a friend or relative to invest in a one-off deal. Apart from the convenience (which is actually a huge warning sign), statistics and common sense should guide them to steer clear of that situation.
- Investing in a single venture deal is a losing game. In fact, you need to evaluate lots of deals to choose the best, then assemble a huge portfolio of investments to really start making the venture odds work in your favor.
- Hand in hand with having a deep venture portfolio, you need one that is broad—with diversity across sector, stage, and geography. Diversity maximizes your odds of winning, while minimizing risks from overexposure.
- Above-median results are linked to the quality of co-investors—and no, unfortunately that’s not usually a friend or relative. The leading VCs have historically delivered significantly better returns than average, and getting access to this level of deal flow is virtually impossible for the individual investor.
Leverage Our Connected Capital
We recognize these realities and offer individual venture investors an alternative approach:
- With 45 investing professionals led by a seasoned Chief Investment Officer, we have the experience and disciplined approach to vet deals.
- We also have tremendous deal flow, looking at 30 deals for every one we invest in.
- We offer investors in each fund 20-30 investments across a highly diversified portfolio.
- Our practice is to invest with top VCs, leveraging the connections of our rolodexes and our network of 400K+ supporters to get access to exclusive deals.
Up until now, venture options for individual investors were poor. Getting into VC meant a lack of access to good deals, $5M investment minimums at big firms, or time-consuming DIY angel investing – until now. AVG is democratizing venture capital with a smarter, simpler approach backed by an unmatched VC network.