Kindred are Looking for a New General Partner

Since we started Kindred Capital in late 2015, we’ve gone from strength to strength and it’s now time to look for our next General Partner, as we start to invest from Fund II, which is another £80m seed fund. In this post I’m going to explain what we’re looking for and why a star investor should be interested in joining our great team.

Fund I pioneered our successful Equitable Investing concept, where sharing Carry with the founders we invest in has noticeably maximised both dealflow and subsequent support for the companies we invested in. Notably successful Fund I portfolio companies include Five.ai, Verve, Paddle, Kalo, Disperse and LabGenius, with a whole bunch more raising in the next six months.

We originally started Kindred and innovated on the traditional VC model because we think it makes strong business sense, but overall it’s our version of the world we want to live in. We’re keen to evolve as a company and any new Partner would want to be a critical part of that and help mould Kindred in the coming years.

Today, Kindred has four equal Partners, who couldn’t be more different in terms of gender, nationality and age. Diversity has always been important to us, long before it became the latest VC fashion accessory. We believe that diverse teams make better decisions — that’s it. So any age and background will be considered for this role.

It’s important to consider the phrase “equal partners”, as most VCs don’t practice this model, in reality. It means that all partners receive the same economic rewards from the fund and this includes Carry, as well monthly compensation. Special preference isn’t given to partners who say, founded the fund and if they leave, they don’t retain any ownership in perpetuity to recognise previous contributions.

Day-to-day decision making is also equal, including deciding which companies we invest in. And we all share the responsibilities and tasks associated with running a lean fund.

To paraphrase Orwell, some Partners are really not more equal than others at Kindred.

The problem with equal partnerships is that they work very well — until they don’t. When no one is the boss, how do you manage mutual accountability? We have invested considerable time and energy into a framework that holds us all accountable to ourselves and the partnership. Having spoken to numerous VCs over the years, I think our model represents very best practice in this area and certainly drives our world class results — according to Cambridge Associates’ data, our fund is in the top 5% globally for our vintage.

What are we looking for in our next partner? The first requirement is that you need to be able to demonstrate some kind of investment track record. This could certainly be in another VC firm, but equally it could be as an angel. What we’re looking for is someone who has been able to demonstrate that they’re a conviction-led investor at Series A or seed stage. You need to be able to meet a founder and pull the trigger, based on very little empirical data.

Ideally, you’d also have had some kind of operational role in a technology company. But this is a nice-to-have as there are plenty of really successful investors who don’t come from this background.

However, you will need to be able to demonstrate a deep empathy with the founder journey, as that’s a critical part of the Kindred DNA.

Our recruitment process is very thorough. We’re looking for a Partner for the coming decade and possibly even longer. Someone who wants to help shape European Venture, join us on our mission to be the best seed investing brand in Europe and find portfolio companies that go on to create massive impact in their markets.

Please drop me a line if you’d like to throw your hat into the ring (GP@kindredcapital.vc). We’re not going to be working with recruitment consultants on this one (much as we recognise their value in other circumstances) and won’t be responding to these enquiries. Just tell me a little about you and your track record to kick things off.

Why should you consider working with us at Kindred? If we really need to spell that out, you’re not going to be right for us.