(#10) Phil Dur: PeakSpan Capital, GTM Mechanization, Capital Efficiency, Responsible Value Creation, Pragmatic Optimism, Optionality, Alignment & The Power of Infectious Charisma.
Phil Dur is the Co-Founder & Managing Partner of PeakSpan Capital. A growth equity firm with over $1.5B in AUM (Assets Under Management) based in New York City and San Mateo, CA.
In addition to being a graduate of Princeton University and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Phil has served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve and has been a software investor for 25 years, serving on the board of over forty growth stage companies.
Prior to PeakSpan, Phil worked at Investor Growth Capital and Morgan Stanley Venture Partners on the technology and software investment teams. He’s also a graduate of two culinary arts schools, an avid tennis player, runner, husband, father, dog lover, and an infectiously charismatic leader.
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You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
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OUTLINE:
00:00 Start
02:50 Mission
06:25 Superpower
09:01 Kryptonite
11:41 5-Minute Hero’s Journey
17:42 Early Influences
24:32 Growth At All Costs, Portfolio Theory & Identifying Investment White Space
36:46 Mistakes When Raising Capital
44:19 Global Fundraising Opportunity
47:22 The Entrepreneurial Journey
52:05 The Big Problem with Modern Venture Capital
55:03 Understanding Capital Loss Ratios
1:00:24 The Black-Scholes-Merton (BSM) Model
1:02:58 M&A Outcomes vs. IPO
1:06:47 PeakSpan’s B2B Software Investment Thesis
1:12:28 Evaluating a Startups Growth Potential
1:20:35 Phil’s 12-18 Month Focus & Outlook
1:28:23 What The World Needs To Embrace
1:30:37 Career Advice
1:31:20 Advice for Entrepreneurs
1:38:14 Faith In The Future
Honorable Mentions:
More info on Phil Dur:
Phil has been a software investor for more than 25 years and has served on the boards of over forty growth stage companies in his career. Before co-founding PeakSpan, Phil worked at Investor Growth Capital for ten years as a leader in the software investment team. Prior to joining IGC, Phil also worked at Morgan Stanley Venture Partners (the firm’s expansion and growth stage fund) as part of the technology investment team and started his career at Morgan Stanley Capital Partners (the firm’s private equity fund) focusing on, among other things, investments in software and other technology areas.
Phil is a graduate of Princeton University and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and also served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve for seven years. Phil enjoys cooking (a graduate of the Peter Kump School and L’Escoffier de Gastronomie but still a very humble student), tennis, running, and spending time with his wife and two children enjoying everything Northern California has to offer.
Connect with Phil Dur on LinkedIn.
More info on PeakSpan:
PeakSpan Capital is a growth equity firm based in New York City and San Mateo. Having partnered with over 30 high-growth software businesses and with $1.5B+ in AUM, PeakSpan's mission is to be the partner of choice for growth-stage entrepreneurial teams who are building amazing software targeted at business buyers of all sizes. PeakSpan combines deep domain expertise within a select number of themes with a homegrown, proprietary technology platform providing visibility into company and market performance, to help disruptive entrepreneurs drive resilient, risk-adjusted value creation.
Visit PeakSpan Capital on the web.