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.
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/
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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