Chris Haroun is one of the partners at tech-focused venture firm Artis Ventures. He is currently looking at series A, B, and C companies that have great ideas and a passionate team. The firm has a passion for companies that want to build on the cloud. They are looking for unique companies that completely disrupt the way we live. He focus on software and Internet cloud-based investments.
What are you passionate about?
We are passionate about investing in companies that have massive markets that disrupt an existing industry. A great example of this is a company on whose board I sit called Bracket Computing. It is VMware for the public cloud and allows you to run components of your data center on multiple cloud service providers with top notch security in place. We invested in the company because we believe strongly in its approach and the team behind it. The addressable market is over 100 billion dollars and the management team is off the charts. Many of them have worked together for over 15 years, which is rare to find at a new company.
I have always been a firm believer that ideas are a commodity, but execution is not. In the public markets there is a notion that past performance is not indicative of future performance, which I believe as well. But in the private markets it is a little different because if you back management teams that have been extraordinarily successful in the past, the probability of success is much higher. Especially when you consider that the markets we invest in have big changes coming in the next few years. We also look for management teams that have the ability to adapt to a rapidly-changing tech market.
You are saying you know that the starting company is not going to be the end company?
It might change a bit. We have the confidence in investing in serial entrepreneurs that have been successful in the past. It is good to know that if the markets do change, and usually they do, the management team will be able to adapt.
How did you find the Bracket Computing deal?
I was interested in investing in companies that are exposed to the public cloud. I think the notion of large enterprises that are not focused on the technology sectors running their own data centers in 5, 10, or 15 years is ludicrous. As consumers, we feel comfortable using Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn, but we don’t know where that data is stored on the open Internet. I wanted to find a company that embraces the public cloud and makes it much more secure. Through general networking I was able to set up a meeting with Tom Gillis, the CEO of Bracket Computing. When I met him he blew me away. He is an incredibly passionate visionary that believes in embracing the public cloud. We actually wrote a 400-page due diligence report before we even invested in the company. It was the biggest investment our firm has ever made.
After make the investment -- what is the next stage?
We see ourselves as extensions of the management team. We want to help our partner companies however we can, so often the next step is customer introductions. We introduced Bracket Computing to the CTO of the CIA. We also introduced them to many CTOs and CIOs in other industry verticals. We feel very passionate about using our networks to help the businesses we invest in really grow to the next level; we are very founder friendly.
Is it also about a personal connection with the founders?
Yeah, part of it is. We spend a large amount of time making customer introductions. We need to feel comfortable that the CEO, head of sales, and entire management team can work well together. What is rare about the management team of Bracket Computing is the fact that they have worked together for at least 15 years. Usually you back one passionate founder and the rest of the management falls into place. In this case the whole team is passionate about what they are doing; their bench is incredibly deep.
What do you think is hot, and where are you trying to find investments?
We are pretty well diversified, but have had our eye on and continue to look hard at the storage and security sectors. We recently led the series B on a company called Cohesity, which is going to disrupt the storage sector. It is our first storage investment since Nimble Storage. What we love about the company is that we have a visionary CEO in Mohit Aron who has had multiple past exits. He is incredibly personable and has a great management team too.
Where do you see the investment cycle right now?
We don’t really think about it that way. We invest in great management teams with superb ideas and a massive total addressable market. We also don’t chase very expensive names. From working with public firms in the past I know it is hard to mark peaks and troughs. You just have to think very, very long term, which is what we do at Artis Ventures.
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