For the last two years, Max Tave ’15 and I have been working part-time with Dot Capital, a NYC-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies globally.
Dot Capital’s founder and managing partner Joe Saviano, father of Brett Saviano ’17, launched the firm in 2012 after previously serving as a partner at Baker Capital, a private equity firm that backed companies such as Akamai, which helped develop the first forms of global Internet and networking infrastructure that evolved into what powers the digital economy we live in today. Joe attended Lehigh University and is a Kappa Sigma, which is why he supports the persistence of a strong brotherhood like we have at Gamma Theta at Cornell.
Dot Capital primarily focuses on early-stage investments in technology startups with business models focused on software-as-a-service, digital media, computing infrastructure and Internet of Things at the seed or Series A stage. That typically means we are amongst their first investors that aren’t friends or family and have invested an average of $1 million per company across 17 companies to date. IMGN Media, which manages some of the most popular meme brand channels on Instagram and Snap was just acquired by Warner Music Group for just under $100 million after receiving investment from Dot in 2018, bringing us to eight total exits. We specifically seek companies whose business models show a realistic path to profitable unit economics in 18–24 months (or before they need more financing) so that they don’t need to raise another round of financing just to stay afloat, but can raise more capital to accelerate their growth from an already somewhat solid foundation.
Max and I met Joe after graduating and began introducing him to friends that launched their own promising technology startups that fit Dot Capital’s investment profile. As Joe came to know us better and realized significant returns from prior investments that suggested Dot was ready to move up in weight class, Max and I formally joined part-time to help Joe grow the firm with the intent of eventually joining full-time.
While our fund is small, Dot typically tries to lead investment rounds. This is important because we are able to negotiate the valuation and other terms of investment such as taking board seats. Our most recent investment, Blue Wire, a sports podcasting network that produces and distributes high quality original and hyperlocal sports-themed podcasts, exemplifies this strategy. We led their $1.2 million seed financing round, which helped bring in strategic investors such as Atlanta Falcons linebacker Deion Jones (through his investment firm Forty5 Ventures) and retired NBA star Baron Davis. Baron will launch his own podcasting company, Slic, on Blue Wire’s network and also help recruit other athletes to join.
Since joining, we’ve also led investments in Hanzo – a Brazilian company that offers a white -labeled digital payments and loyalty platform. Hanzo’s software allows any organization to recreate the Starbucks app experience for a brand driving mobile consumption and repurchase without any engineers. Their clients consist of big companies such as Mastercard, Unilever, and McDonald’s (their ice cream machines in Brazil work!) as well as some smaller startups. With the emergence of COVID-19, they doubled down on supporting contactless deliveries after learning a lot from their work with Petz – the biggest pet retailer in Brazil. Hanzo built Petz a mobile app using their e-commerce suite and mobile orders now represent a third of their sales after one year!
Working with Dot Capital has been especially rewarding for Max and I as a “hands-on-MBA” of sorts since we get to work directly with leaders of high growth companies to solve real problems all over the world and learn a lot about their unique business and technology along the way. Every once in a while, we get to meet especially interesting entrepreneurs such as Tosca Musk, who launched her romance-focused streaming service after receiving a small investment from her brothers Elon and Kimbal, as well as Dot Capital. Joe has also provided hilarious uncensored feedback and mentorship, which certainly reminds us of Brett’s own ability to sniff out BS!
We’re always looking for ways to work with and support brothers. I had lost my home to foreclosure in the fall of 2016, but am now back on my feet and doing things I like and I owe it all to the support I received from my brothers over the last few years. Through working with Dot, Max and I have developed extensive networks in startup communities and are able to help refer brothers who might have been impacted by recent layoffs (or anyone looking to get rid of their boss) to high-growth technology companies. We’re happy to begin returning some of the favors that have helped us in our early careers. Please feel free to reach out.
Catch up with Alex at ank43@cornell.edu and Max at myt22@cornell.edu.