This discussion features Brian Cashin, Vice President at Teamworthy Ventures (an early stage venture capital firm) and Dan Polonka, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Affinity. The conversation focuses on the approach Teamworthy Ventures takes to drive value for their portfolio companies after making an investment, how technology can streamline portfolio support processes, and advice for VCs starting out in the industry.
The critical importance of driving portfolio value
Cashin emphasizes that while sourcing deals is essential, VCs are ultimately judged on portfolio company revenue growth and success over time. He explains that Teamworthy takes an active "venture builder" approach by accelerating growth through providing access to experts in customer development, partnerships, hiring, and strategy. To do this well, the team relies on careful coordination at weekly meetings dedicated specifically to creating value for portfolio companies.
These weekly portfolio support meetings focus on connecting companies to ideal customers, partners, and talent. While strategy is important, so is being flexible and reactive. For example, Teamworthy may bring in a subject matter expert for a portfolio company as a consultant, but that person may end up joining the company’s C-suite. Being able to respond to a company’s changing needs is vital to maximizing growth opportunities.
As Cashin describes it, the goal is to open up vectors of growth rather than simply pursuing incremental improvements in portfolio company performance. Action items from these meetings aim to accelerate meaningful trajectories.
Using Affinity to drive portfolio value and communicate approach to LPs
Affinity is core to Teamworthy's operations—not just for sourcing deals and tracking pipeline progress, but also for prioritizing existing portfolio companies and optimizing value creation activities.
The team uses Affinity as a productivity platform within their VC tech stack, a place to consolidate and action an array of data sources. For example, by pulling in G2 data, Teamworthy can quickly view and act on subpar product reviews related to a portfolio company. Using relationship intelligence, the team identifies the strongest connection to someone in their network who can provide support and insight, and then make that introduction from a position of familiarity.
Advice for new VCs on consistency despite market changes
For new VCs, Cashin advises sticking to proven, disciplined approaches regardless of market cycles. In his own career, he has focused on talent indicators above lagging quantitative metrics to identify high-potential founders early, which is when more value can be provided.
The metrics you choose not to track can be as important as the ones that you do track, and a platform like Affinity helps make it easy to determine what matters most for your fund’s thesis.
Learn more about Teamworthy Ventures in this case study.
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