How the Russian venture lives
About the venture fair and not only – Alexey Solovyov
On the eve of the upcoming anniversary XV Russian and X Kazan venture Fairs, we talked with prominent Russian experts in the field of venture business about the state of the industry, prospects and tools for its development.
Alexey Sergeevich Solovyov, Managing Director of Prostor Capital Venture Fund
– Alexey Sergeevich, the venture industry in Russia is a little more than 15 years old. How has the image of a venture investor changed during this time?
A.S.: Exactly the same way a person's appearance changes when he turns from a romantic and insecure teenager into a mature young man, not yet wise, but already justifiably confident and well aware of what he wants in this life. He no longer rushes in all directions at once in the hope of "embracing the immensity" and knows the value of mistakes. The venture capital market is exactly the same today. After several years of rapid growth, he finally slowed down and started working on mistakes: it was time to "collect stones" – to exit portfolio businesses, report to investors, including in order to raise new money. This is not yet maturity, but self–confident youth - with a clear alignment of priorities, preference for niche specializations, reassessment of risks, more careful choice of projects, rejection of omnivorousness, search for new strategies and practices. The speed of the "race" faded into the background. The quality and efficiency of investments came to the fore.
– It is difficult to overestimate the role of communications in the business sphere. What role, in your opinion, do venture fairs play as communication platforms?
A.S.: There are never many communication platforms, the more opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs to meet, the more chances for both sides to find worthy partners. Fairs have one fundamental difference – they are held not in Moscow or St. Petersburg, where financial resources are concentrated, and where startups are already "spoiled" by a variety of means of communication with potential partners, but in regions where direct communication of all participants in the venture process occurs much less often. There are a lot of interesting teams outside of Moscow, but they have much fewer opportunities to make themselves felt. Fairs are a good way to fix this.
– There is an opinion that "startuping" in Moscow, and in the Central Federal District as a whole, has become an "overheated" segment, and in the field of Internet commerce, there is talk of a "bubble" at all. Are such assessments valid?
A.S.: Whether there is a "bubble" or not is a matter of separate discussion, and the level of "claims" to Internet commerce is always justifiably higher – precisely because this is the structure of the venture market. The vast majority of innovative projects are connected with the Internet in one way or another. Can fairs somehow affect this? On the one hand, no, because only the market itself, its laws, the balance of supply and demand can change the alignment. And on the other hand, maybe yes, if they purposefully increase the share of the "non–Internet", seek out, collect, motivate projects from other fields to participate - medicine, science, nanotechnology, etc.
– A modern technology entrepreneur, what is he like today?
A.S.: Smart, efficient, educated, creative, in general, this is a person who has almost all the skills necessary for building a successful business, except for one, but very important one – globality of thinking. Almost everyone has already learned how to write business plans and work with investors, but not to think big, without stereotypes and restrictions. Most Russian startups think locally, "shtetl", and if they are aiming at the international market, then rather at the level of bold fantasies. They slowly assemble a team, calmly look for money, negotiate for a long time, slowly release a prototype, etc. During this time, someone already occupies their niche.
– What growth points do you see on the venture capital market?
A.S.: Any venture investor always has two key concerns: the search for high-quality projects and new investors who are ready to give money to the fund under management. Both have always been difficult, and now, against the background of the crisis, both problems have noticeably worsened. It is becoming more and more difficult to work in the usual – classic investment format in Russia. The competition for potential LP's money, as well as for high-quality projects, is already critically great and will only increase. This means that we need to look for new opportunities to improve our efficiency, to rebuild, so as not to become the 51st fund, which, like everyone else, is looking for money and projects, to develop new models and formats of investment. This is the path we chose for ourselves and as a result we were the first on the market to develop the investment practice of Media for Equity (share for advertising), which involves investments in projects in the form of advertising inventory in exchange for a share in the business. In fact, we have launched a new business for Russia, and we already have followers.
As for the search and selection of projects, for the vast majority of professional Russian funds, this task is being solved today by shifting the focus to projects with global potential, not limited to the local market, and if national, then very large, with a potentially All–Russian audience.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru16.04.2015