Independent rating of Keiretsu Forum VC fund
Overall rating:
3.5
(27)
Recommend to another founder: 60%
About Keiretsu Forum VC fund
Website:
Founded:
2000
Number of funds:
2
Number of investments:
301
Number of exits:
31
Headquarters:
Organization type:
Angel Group, Venture Capital
How Keiretsu Forum VC fund invests
Rounds:
Average ticket size:
982K USD
Biggest investment:
2.57M USD
Would lead round:
Yes
Would coinvest:
Yes
Countries where invested:
Sectors of interest:
Health Care, Wellness, Medical Device, Manufacturing, Vocational Education, Software, Sensor, Robotics, Pharmaceutical, Personal Health, Oil and Gas, Mobile, Insurance, Information Technology, Hospital, Higher Education, Health Insurance, Fitness, Financial Services, FinTech, Electronics, Education, EdTech, E-Learning, Corporate Training, Continuing Education, Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Advertising
Founders' reviews of Keiretsu Forum VC fund
Recommend to another founder 80%
Within 6 months by non-portfolio founder
Verified by BOUND
Recommend to another founder 40%
Older than a year by non-portfolio founder
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Do Not Waste Your Time with Keiretsu
Let me begin by saying that we're a fundable startup. We've raised $6MM from Angel investors in the last 18 months in two different deals with fair and reasonable deal terms. We have investors from all over the country who are excited to be in the company.
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Fees and Manipulation
Early on in 2011 when i was first starting my company i was approached by a Keiretsu member who claimed he was interested in investing in our first round (we had several rounds and then a very successful public exit afterwards) He suggested I fly out to SF from the east coast and I met with him in person at my expense after several phone calls. He tried to first pitch me on a "virtual incubator" where he would provide advice and consulting and a 3-5k "stipend" for 15% of my company. This was before i had raised any money but even as a first time entrepreneur with limited experience this seemed ridiculous. This was all over the phone but then I invited him to participate in my round and thats what precipitated the meeting in SF. At the meeting he informed me that I had a "lot of work" to do in order to get the necessary materials together for due diligence in front of his "investor colleagues" at the Keiretsu Forum. Of course he offered to "help" with this in exchange for "sweat equity" that he would provide in lieu of an actual funding amount. Only once he had gotten equity for his 'sweat' would he then actually consider investing. I balked at this and challenged him to invest as others began to commit to the round - he refused and told me that I would never be able to build a company as I lacked the business saavy to build a great company. Well its 4 years later and we just exited after building a fantastic company - had he invested in the round he would be somewhere between 8 and 10x depending on his timing. These guys are complete scammers - oh and had I actually taken him up on his multiple offers to swindle equity i would have then had to PAY to get in front of his Keiretsu brethren. These guys are complete frauds and just like the idea of being investors. They are playing a role they either cant afford or are too afraid to commit to. The fees they collect are literally the only thing that is keeping them going and they eat and drink those fees at their showcase shams every month RUN AWAy from these guys - if there were more regulations around angel group investing these guys would be in jail for fraud.
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Some Additional Experience...
I knew nothing about these folks when they contacted me about pitching to their group in New York for an upcoming CEO Presentation. Even though I had just closed on a round of funding you always hesitate turning down a chance to pitch for the next opportunity down the road. Regretfully I did not check this site for a review.
I should have known better from the name - which is so 80's - back when Japan was the business equivalent of Godzilla.
The good news if there is good news is I made the preliminary presentation via webex. I as kept waiting for 45 minutes and then told that I had only 15 minutes - 10 for presentation & 5 for questions instead of the 25 that i had been promised. No problem, I can pitch in 10. Did the best I could in 10 minutes with the deck that had just recently won me my most recent round of money. At the end of the pitch I was told how bad the presentation was and how it needed "serious work" and that there were people on the call that could help. I am in no way claiming my pitch is perfect - no one's presentation ever is - but this was over the top. It began to feel like an old time aluminum siding sale - one guy is in the front yard commanding your attention while the other ones are in the back creating damage in order to sell you something you don't necessarily need. Sure enough one of the group who is in Investor relations/PR sent me an email about his services and how he might be able to help "tweak" the company. No one has asked form money yet in order to present but I am expecting that soon. steer clear.
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Keiretsu
Only bottom 10% of all start-up founders should actually pay them money to pitch.
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Who is Doing the Pitching to Whom?
I got referred to our regional chapter and had heard all the bad reps about these angel groups. But the personal referral (an experienced entrepreneur) said to at least give it a try - that the Keiretsu folks had a better track record than the others and he personally knew of a large successful funding that came out of it. Now, I really believe in the emphatic warning to all of us entrepreneurs: Don't Pay to Pitch!! But the pre-screening was free and since I like experiencing things first-hand, we gave it a try. The red flags started before we got to the pre-screening pitch meeting when the screener (young MBA) kept questioning our valuation and asking if we could go lower. Odd, since he knew nothing about our company or market or competition yet.
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What a Waste
We pitched two keiretsu chapters in SoCal. The $1500 fee was thankfully waived. It would have been very upsetting to part with $1500 on this crew. The attendees were poorly screened. In both cases it seemed that 2/3 the crowd were either lookee loos or professional services folks (e.g. lawyers or CPAs) looking for business. They gave us 10 minutes to pitch and 10 minutes of questions. The questions were for the most part unsophisticated or just plain annoying. One guy, an IP attorney, monopolized everyone's time asking pointless questions on arcane points of IP law. The average age was probably around 60 - I have nothing against folks this age, but if you are pitching a IT play or anything with targeted at a youthful demographic you are probably wasting your time. Afterwards, the entrepreneurs were shooed out of the room while the "investors" conferred. We were then invited back in for networking. The organizers did nothing at this point to facilitate discussion. It was a free-for-all and we found ourselves buttonholed by people who wanted to share lame comments or questions.
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Apply the "Mom" Test to These Folks
As a guest I attended a few of these meetings, and followed through with some of the companies pitching. Each of the meetings I attended at least one of the companies got funded. So 1/5 or 2/5 closed some money in each of the meetings. I pitched and was not successful.
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Suing Jason Calacanis for Complaining about Fees...
One of the most common complaints among entrepreneurs is the high fees that Keiretsu Forum charges entrepreneurs to pitch. Jason Calacanis, an admittedly controversial entrepreneur, spoke out against the high fees. Now, it appears that the Keiretsu Forum is suing him.
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Spend Your Company's Money, Time and Energy Elsewhere
My company had a bad experience with Keiretsu Bay Area and Pacific Northwest. I would advise to spend your money on the fundraising efforts elsewhere.
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Not All Keiretsu's are Created Equal
These forums are only as good as the deals and the investors who participate. The Forum in Denver does, in my opinion, a good job of creating an angel investor marketplace and has funded a number of deals in the last two years. It does not charge to pitch and I would recommend it.
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Decided Not to Pitch...
$6K is a lot of money to get in front of angels in this economy. Just can't justify it...
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Angels" Do They Know the Meaning of It"
We were approached by this forum for pitching.
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A Motivational Speaker Seminar is a Better Deal
I was introduced to them by a colleague and friend. I have been pitched relentlessly on paying to pitch ever since then.
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Danger Will Robinson! Danger!
A joke of a group.
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They Don't Design Their Process for Web 2.0 Companies
We submitted our plan and heard back that they would only be interested once we had a level of users and a level of revenue that would make the kind of funding they could offer us unhelpful- i.e. there would be no point along our growth trajectory even if we are indeed successful that Keiretsu could help us given these limitations. I think they probably do quite well for old-school, traditional businesses. I just think they're working in a paradigm in which a future facebook, a future youtube or a future Twitter would not get relevant kinds of funding opportunities at any stage of their growth.
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Careful of New Members
I've been to a number of angel organizations and they rank as one of the better run. The meetings were organized, well attended, and presentations were, on the whole well done.
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You Have Got to Be Kidding!
Many years ago as a young entrepreneur I had a lunch meeting with an investor, at the end of which I tried to pay. He stopped me and said "any investor who lets you pay for lunch isn't a real investor".
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Great Concept, Flawed Execution
Very tempting, only $3G to present to a huge room full of angels. In reality, $3G per pitch in different cities, the room is 30% angels 70% service companies wanting your business and nobody really seems to know how to invest. The actual forum is NO help after you pitch, it is up to you to organize and herd the interested parties.
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They Mean Well
Randy Williams acknowledges publicly that about 80% of their investment goes into real estate, not startups.
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You Pay, They Finger the Sushi
This is part social club, part networking group, part investor association. It is a good way to pitch to 50+ people in one room (minus professionals who are pitching their services as well). The business model however is that you are more a piece of sushi on a moving sushi belt, they like to look, smell, but they're only going to seriously consider at most 1 of every 20 that comes their way. They're eclectic, look at everything from office buildings to software companies.
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Not Sure What is Going to Happen...
I received some convertible note funding from a small VC contingent on passing the deal screening. We got through it and i got a check the following week. Obviously I still have more to raise.
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Depends Upon What You're Pitching
Was invited to attend a few meetings. Well structured, to be sure. However, in the end, it's a bunch of wealthy individuals with narrow fields of expertise commenting, usually, on things they know very little about. There's also a smattering of ex Microsofties that think they're the next Warren Buffet when it comes to investing but, again, suffer from narrow scopes of experience. If you've got a new dental product to pitch, or, perhaps, something that works along with the Microsoft Office suite, then this is the group to pitch. Otherwise, the process is long and expensive (for a startup).
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Professional, but Still Needs Improvement
If you compare Keiretsu to other angels organizations they are probably ahead of the pack. The biggest problem with all the angels' organization is lack of active angels. They have wealthy people that either did 1 angel investment (for a cousin) years ago or are thinking about doing an angel investment "sometime". Keiretsu members seem to be more active as angels, many doing multiple investments per year. There is also the money issue, but if you are a startup you have to think that presenting to 30-60 active angels at once is worth hundreds of hours of pitching individual angels and VCs.
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Why Would Entreprenurs Pay?
If I were an entrepreneur, I would not pay the large amount just to present.
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Pay to Pitch" I Don't Think So.
I have attended several of these angel forums, hoping benefit from a room full of eager/wealthy/accredited angel investors.
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Contradictory Feedback
In addition to what the other post said, which I totally agree with, the main problem with having 'too many' angels under one roof is that you get contradictory feedback....
Members read on...