Why We Invested in Aforza

People often ask me how I enjoy being a venture capitalist and why don’t I go back and “crush it again” as an operator?

My answer to them is always the same — if I have the opportunity to work with amazing founders and can help “influence” them to some modicum of success, then it is actually very similar to the work I did at Salesforce and others.

The greatest moments and the best successes of my “operational” career were always some version of the same story:

1. Hire amazing people who were actually far better than they knew.
2. Provide them strong guidance with some tough love along the way.
3. Get the hell out of their way.

For those of you out there (at last count I think their combined worth would allow them to purchase Greenland) with whom I have had these amazing opportunities, thank you.

And so, venture investing, especially at the Seed Stage (revenue is sub $250K ARR, 5–15 people tops, etc.), is all about entering into some long-term partnerships with some amazing founders.

Which brings me to what will forever be known as “Brett’s first VC deal” — Aforza. I do fear that every subsequent institutional investment I make will be compared to this one — which I am pretty confident will be a tough measure. To understand my excitement, let me share with you my thoughts on the team, the opportunity, and the traction / potential for traction. Thanks as well to Alex Kayyal & the Salesforce Ventures team for joining us on this investment.