When Tim Chen tried to interrupt into enterprise capital six years in the past, a number of companies in Seattle turned him down. “No person wished to rent me,” he recalled in an interview with GeekWire. “I used to be too technical, they stated. Too nerdy.”
Chen, a College of Washington graduate and infrastructure engineer who had simply bought a startup, determined to launch his personal agency.
Six years later, Chen’s traders — often known as restricted companions, or LPs — line as much as give him cash earlier than he even opens a pitch deck.
Chen lately raised $41 million for a fourth fund at Essence VC, his enterprise agency that backs infrastructure startups. His LPs embody institutional traders resembling Andreessen Horowitz’s Martin Casado and Cendana Capital’s Michael Kim.
TechCrunch described Chen as “some of the sought-after solo traders,” highlighting how traders preempted the newest fund.
“I had no deck, no memo — I hadn’t even began elevating,” Chen informed GeekWire. “The LPs simply all got here in.”
Chen used AngelList to boost $1 million for his first fund in 2019, specializing in developer instruments and infrastructure — classes he knew inside out. The experiment rapidly snowballed: he raised $5 million for Fund II and $27 million for Fund III.
A dozen firms from the Essence portfolio have been acquired, together with Tabular, a knowledge administration startup that bought to Databricks final yr for a reported $2.2 billion.
What began as rejection has develop into a calling for Chen — and an unconventional enterprise capital success story.
After learning laptop science on the UW, Chen labored at Microsoft and VMware, helped launch open-source cloud startup Mesosphere, and later based Hyperpilot, an “AIOps” firm acquired by Cloudera.
Chen’s expertise as a software program engineer and operator has develop into his edge in VC — particularly amid the AI increase. He’s in a position to make sooner choices and achieve respect from founders.
“Tim requested the toughest, most attention-grabbing questions on how we have been going to construct what we stated we have been going to construct,” stated Jordan Tigani, CEO of Seattle startup MotherDuck. “From a founder perspective, this let me belief that he really believed in what we have been doing and was coming to his choices on his personal.”
Seattle entrepreneur Patrick Thompson raised capital from Chen twice — along with his earlier startup Iteratively, which was acquired, and his present firm Clarify. “He’s some of the technically-minded individuals, but additionally tremendous humble and straightforward to work with,” Thompson stated.
The mix of engineering depth and empathy has helped Chen win aggressive early-stage offers. He’s constructed a distinct segment round serving to technical founders translate analysis and code into merchandise and go-to-market methods.
“I’m on the lookout for those that have a deep sufficient background, with excessive depth, and large flexibility on studying,” he stated.
Essence’s portfolio spans throughout the U.S. and past. LPs ask Chen why he hasn’t moved to the Bay Space but.
Chen is staying in Seattle, the place he’s lived since highschool. He believes Seattle’s tech scene is under-networked however brimming with expertise.
“There’s a lot nice engineering expertise with nice iconic firms right here,” he stated.
Essence plans to make round 40 investments out of its fourth fund. Seattle is actually on Chen’s radar.
“After all,” he stated. “I’m assembly individuals right here, like UW PhDs. I like technical individuals. The nerdier, the geekier, the higher.”
