After founding multiple companies and establishing his own $1M fund, entrepreneur turned investor Brett Brohl knows a few things about funding. But he’s not sure others can say the same.
“There’s really zero investor education in town,” Brohl said. “I talk about angel groups like everybody knows exactly what an angel group does, but most people, even the ones that have gone through the corporate world, don’t.”
A new early-stage venture capital fund headed by Brohl, The Syndicate Fund, aims to both raise money for local startups and educate those interested in investing in them.
Brohl started the fund with four other local entrepreneurs earlier this year, and he believes that the model they chose is somewhat unique. The fund’s 30 members will not only provide early stage capital, but also mentorship and advice.
For Brohl the Syndicate is as much about building a community as it is for raising funds for growing startups.
“Investing can be tough when you try to go at it alone,” he said.
Brohl expects to invest around $1M in about 10 companies over the next 12 months. Startups will receive anywhere from $25K to $150K depending on the stage of their business. Participants also have the option of leveraging Syndicate members for mentorship, advice or potential future investment dollars.
“You get the power of a huge network through our fund, which doesn’t always happen,” Brohl said.
“I don’t know how else to activate money in the Twin Cities. Maybe we can’t. And maybe we won’t be able to. But this is one shot at it. And it’s worth giving it a try.”
Brohl said he learned about investing primarily through his own experiences.
Last year, he teamed up with Will Allen, who was chief operating office of Behance before it was sold to Adobe, to create a small angel fund with their own funds. The two invested in three local companies and at least two out of state, according to Brohl.
Allen is one of four advisors on the Syndicate team. The others are Ryan Broshar, who leads the Target Techstars accelerator and runs Matchstick Ventures; Matt Johnson, who led and sold tech company Contour Innovations; and web developer Janahan Rajaratnam.
Brohl said he hopes that through the fund and education events, potential investors may begin to feel more comfortable and excited about funding local startups.
“I don’t know how else to activate money in the Twin Cities. Maybe we can’t. And maybe we won’t be able to. But this is one shot at it. And it’s worth giving it a try,” he said.
Brohl will be partnering with Gopher Angels to host his first investor education event, “Supporting Startups and Making Money,” later this month. It is introductory and geared toward those interested in learning the basics of angel investing.
