INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Think Jack Dorsey’s jobs are tough? Well, Tom Chavez is running six startups
He thinks building businesses can be boiled down to science, so today he’s unveiling his laboratory for founding, funding and operating
He and his team have already proven they can do it themselves after selling their startups Rapt to Microsoft and Krux to Salesforce for a
Now they’ve raised a $65 million fund for “super{set}”, an enterprise startup studio with a half-dozen companies currently in
motion.The idea is that {super}set either conceptualizes a company or brings in founders whose dream they can make a reality
The studio provides early funding and expertise while the startup works from their shared space in San Francisco, plus future ones in New
The secret sauce is the “super{set} Code,” an execution playbook plus technological tools and building blocks that guide the strategy
and eliminate redundant work
“Our belief is that we can make the companies 10x faster and increase capital efficiency by 5X,” says Chavez of his partnership with
{super}set co-founders Vivek Vaidya, who acts as CTO, and Jae Lim who manages the fund.The {super}set team (from left): Tom Chavez, Jae Lim,
Jen Elena and Vivek VaidyaPerhaps the question isn’t whether the portfolio startups can scale, but if the humans behind them can without
It’s stressful running a single company, let alone six
Even with the order of operations nailed down, each encounters unique challenges and no plan is one-size-fits-all
But after delivering 17.5X returns to their past investors, Chavez et al
have proven their power to repeatedly recognize what enterprises need and build admittedly boring but bountiful products in customer data
management, and advertising yield.The studio’s playbooks cover business plan formation, pitch strategies, go to market, revenue, machine
learning, management principles, HR processes, sales methods, pipeline measurement, product sequencing, finance, legal and more
There’s also shared engineering code it provides, so each startup doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel
“I don’t think you can systemize it but I do think you can accelerate and de-risk the path,” Chavez explains.{super}set CodeToday, the
first {super}set company is coming out of stealth
Eskalera helps enterprises retain top talent by tracking diversity and inclusion stats of employees to engage them with career growth and
Chavez is the CEO, but plans to install a new one shortly so he can focus more time on founding more startups
There are 55 employees across the first six companies, with two already generating revenue and most ready to emerge in the next nine
months.The funding for Eskalera and other {super}set companies comes with unique terms
Because Chavez and the team aren’t just board members you hear from once a quarter but “shoulder to shoulder with the entrepreneurs”
as he repeats several times in our interview, the startups pay more equity for the cash.The hope is having seasoned leadership aboard is
“We’re product people first and foremost,” Chavez tells me
“What are you going to build? Who’s going to buy it? Why? What’s the technical moat? We’re not people doing jazz hands.” The
{super}set team has plenty of skin in the game, though, given Chavez himself put in a big chunk of the $65 million, and the fund sticks to a
standard management fee.EskaleraTo supercharge the companies, {super}set brings in expert staffers in artificial intelligence, data science
and more, who then align with the most relevant companies in the portfolio
They get equity grants to incentivize them to work hard on the startups’ behalf
“The worry I have about these larger funds is that they have an incentive disconnect where they work for the fees” Chavez says
His fund hopes to win through follow-on funding of its winners.{super}set co-founder Tom ChavezIf portfolio companies hit hard times, Chavez
says {super}set will stick with them
“My first company had multiple layoffs and a major pivot
We had an enterperenur that walked away
They lost conviction, but we brought that company to an $180 million exit after people said there was no effing way and that felt really
good,” Chavez says of staying the course
“The good entrepreneurs have that demonic energy.” But if everyone involved agrees a project isn’t working, they’ll shutter it
“It comes back to opportunity cost of people’s time.”Chavez has respect for studios taking different approaches, like Atomic in
consumer startups, Science in e-commerce and Pioneer Square Labs, which maintains a larger fund staff
“What excites me is moving entrepreneurship a step forward
Why couldn’t we franchise this in other cities?” He hopes {super}set can attract top talent that “just want to work on cool shit”
rather than getting sucked into a single company.Can {super}set keep all the plates spinning and really lower their risk? “If we’re
wrong there will be a giant orange plume streak across the sky
The early returns are promising but we have to prove it,” Chavez says
But after accruing plenty of wealth for himself, he says the thrill that keeps him in the startup game is seeing life-changing outcomes for
“I have spreadsheets showing the wealth generated by employees of companies I’ve built and nothing makes me happier than seeing them pay
for tuitions, property, or retiring.”
