The one reason startups fail, with VentureSouth’s Charlie Banks

As the managing director of VentureSouth, Charlie Banks has invested over $60 million in over 90 companies. Some of them have been amazing success stories – but he’s seen  his share of failures as well.  Today, he talks about what the founder should be looking for in an investment partner, and he shares the one major reason that startups fail.

Transcript

Trevor Schmidt: Today’s guest is Charlie Banks, managing director at VentureSouth, an early-stage venture firm that provides capital and expertise to startups throughout the Southeast with its angel investment network and funds. To-date, VentureSouth has invested over $60 million in over 90 companies.  It has expanded from Greenville South Carolina to multiple locations throughout the southeast, including a location right here in the Triangle.

On the show, Charlie talks about his relationships with founders and advice he can give for anyone running a company, because he’s seen some major successes – like VentureSouth investments in companies like Spiffy and emergo therapeutics – and he’s seen  his share of failures as well.

For Charlie growing up, he always wanted to be a sports agent.  His dad was a lawyer, and he had taken the LSAT, ready to enroll in law school.  But before he could do that, he got a little taste of investing and entrepreneurship and was hooked

Charlie Banks: I, got involved in some real estate investments. And I guess it was timing and luck more than anything, but. Made some money, in that and, started making bets in companies that I just thought were interesting, you know, in entrepreneurs that were doing some cool stuff. And I had no idea really what angel investing was at the time. And I guess you could say that’s what I was doing, but, through all that, I, I., started a couple of, you know, small, small things myself. Some of them were successful, most of them were not but you know, looking back on that time, it was really just about educating, educating myself on what not to do. 

Full Episode Transcript

Hosted by Trevor Schmidt, Founder Shares is brought to you by Hutchison PLLC and is edited and produced by Earfluence.

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