The Hutch Podcast

Eric Engelmann on Venture Capital and the State of VC in Iowa

Episode Summary

Eric Engelmann started his college career at Iowa State University before transferring to The University of Iowa where he received his bachelor's in economics from the Tippie College of Business. After a short stint as a software engineer out of college Eric founded his company Geometric. Eventually, Eric decided to go from operator to investor and founded ISA Ventures. ISA Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that looks to back innovative founders and their companies. Eric has invested in more than 40 companies through the Iowa Startup Accelerator Fund and is an active mentor and advisor around the state and region.

Episode Notes

Eric and I had a great discussion about Venture Capital in Iowa and the greater Midwest. From discussing Eric's journey as an entrepreneur to an investor as well as digging into his $22M fund ISA Ventures, Eric drops a ton of knowledge and advice for listeners!

For more information about ISA Ventures, you can visit their website here: https://www.isaventures.com/

Follow us on Instagram @thehutchpodcast 

To contact Conor you can send an email to hawktalkspodcast@gmail.com

Here are some show notes: 

Entrepreneurship Journey 

01:25 Eric's journey to entrepreneurship 

05:50 Founding Geonetric 

07:50 Getting into investing 

11:00 Why it's important to have an exit strategy as a founder

ISA Ventures 

12:50 What is Venture Capital? 

15:00 Who are the LPs in ISA Ventures

18:25 Pros and Cons of sticking to only Iowa investments

20:30 What do you look for before investing in a company and team? 

22:05 Analyzing market sizes of potential investments

24:13 ISA Ventures $22M fund model 

29:26 Balancing risk and diversification on investments

32:30 What happens when a company has a liquidation event? 

State of Iowa VC 

35:15 Upcoming industries to look at in Iowa and the Midwest 

37:25 Iowa Innovation 

42:07 Do you need to be an expert in a specific industry? 

46:45 Local groups helping bridge the gap between startups and VC 

50:15 How does Iowa position itself for more outside VC investment? 

Wrap Up Questions

52:15 How can students learn more about VC?

54:40 Books and Podcast that Eric recommends: 

Built to Sell Radio Podcast

20VC by Harry Stebbings 

Scaling People by Claire Johnson 

Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson