Jason Caplain got nos from 50 investment firms before one, in Boston, finally gave him a chance.
A finance role at Red Hat then brought him to Raleigh, and dozens of investments in Triangle (and other) companies have kept him one of the region’s longest standing and most active investors. That’s especially been the case since mid-2014, when Caplain and his partner David Jones started making deals out of their first fund at Bull City Venture Partners.
They’ve added four local companies—Spoonflower, Medfusion, Reveal Mobile and AdWerx—to the portfolio, two in Washington D.C. and one in Silicon Valley (but with a strong local connection), while making follow-on investments in existing portfolio companies like Zift Solutions. Caplain let us into the brain of a venture capitalist during last night’s Twitter chat hosted by ExitEvent.
Look for a good amount of advice for entrepreneurs raising money, some insight into past BCVP and Southern Capitol Ventures deals, and recommendations for the startup community to build a stronger ecosystem in 2016. Oh, and some tips for the best crab cakes on the East Coast (Apparently, he makes them.).
Some excerpts are below, but click here for the full conversation, and stay tuned for our next Twitter chat.
