Venture Passport

S2E1: Carmen Alfonso Rico, VC turned Angel @ Cocoa

Jack Richardson Season 2 Episode 1

This week's episode is with Carmen Alfonso Rico, an in-house VC at Cocoa.

Cocoa is a $17m European pre-seed/seed fund backed by tech founders, designed to not lead rounds, not argue over stakes and not get in the way of other investors.

Previously, Carmen was a Partner at Series A fund Blossom and a very active angel, deploying angel tickets into 20+ companies, including being the first investor in Hopin.

We discuss:

  • Why founders need a killer instinct and a heart
  • Founder or market; the trade-off cost of missing awesome founders for investing in a TAM which is not typically classed as ‘venture backable’
  • The story of Hopin: first cheque, a $6.7bn valuation & an exit
  • Aligning founder proposition to your fund model; deciding size, stake, reserve allocation
  • Tips for raising a first-time fund