Venture Capital and Food Tech with VP, Abby Lyall

The Bear Necessities of Entrepreneurship

HIGHLIGHTS

04:09 Abby's professional journey and spearheading innovation at BIV

09:17 Only companies which prioritize growth above all else should take VC money

16:54 Investing in consumer product innovations and intellectual properties

22:16 Future of food tech: A larger focus on infrastructure and regenerative agri

28:06 Brutal honesty is Abby's superpower

29:53 Book recommendation: The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

31:32 Tips for entrepreneurs: Raising money is about creating relationships

34:33 Connect with Abby

QUOTES

09:50 Abby: "Venture capital investing is this super, super, super high risk, very niche investment strategy that it's really only appropriate for a very small subset of companies. And those are the companies that want to grow really, really quickly, prioritize growth above all else."

15:00 Abby: "A big fund raise, by the way, is not necessarily a big business win. There are so many companies that have raised hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital and never build a sustainable profitable business. And we've seen a lot of those very high profile failures lately."

25:01 Abby: "I'm a huge fan of regenerative agriculture. I think that's something that is really mission critical to helping us combat global climate change as it relates to the food space."

26:11 Abby: "Whole ecosystems and thinking about our place in the ecosystem as a consumer is really important. And you don't get that just by going vegan if you're eating corn and soy products because the amount of deforestation and land use and water use and nutrient depletion and everything that's involved with growing those crops is not that much better for the environment."

32:12 Abby: "The process of raising money is all about relationships. Investors want to invest in people that they know, that they trust, and that they like, and that they want to work with, and that they think they can have a really good professional relationship with back to the seven to 10 year long marriage."

You can learn more about Abby in the links below.

• LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/abigaillyall/
• Email - [e-mail]

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