Oliver B. Libby is co-founding Managing Partner of Hatzimemos / Libby Holdings (H/L Ventures)and of CityRock Venture Partners. Based in New York City and founded in 2009, the H/L Ventures family of companies represents a new kind of venture firm. H/L Ventures is dedicated to building high-growth businesses that add value to society by protecting and promoting people and the planet, with a strong preference for diverse founding teams. H/L Ventures’ proprietary Growth Catalyst model blends the best of venture studio, strategic advisor and investment firm on one platform to help grow companies from early stage to exit in a holistic approach to company building. The hallmark of the Growth Catalyst business model is virtually daily active engagement with each portfolio company.
Conductiv, Modern Meadow, Serif, Solstice
In a couple sentences, how would you describe your path to becoming an investor?
My partner, Eric, and I set out to rethink venture capital firm structure, focusing on co-building companies at the nexus of growth, financial returns, positive impact, and diverse founding teams. We apply daily active engagement of our studio team to support our portfolio companies. I did not come through a traditional pathway, which I believe contributed to us being able to innovate on the venture model.
Investment Approach: What are the key factors you consider when evaluating a founding team?
We evaluate team, product, and market like any firm, but we overlay considerations around positive impact and diverse founding teams, and finally focus heavily on how our studio team can help actively throughout the entrepreneurial journey for the prospective company (we call this relevance).
What's your style and approach when it comes to working with founders post-investment? What are the characteristics of founders you've worked well with?
Our entire investment thesis is premised on the venture studio and "daily active engagement" model. We partner with our companies for the duration of their entrepreneurship story and our team aims to help with virtually anything a portfolio company might need. We tend to work well with founders who know how to utilize our resources, are open to partnership with an active firm, and care about the impact of their companies and the strength of their company culture.
If I'm coming to pitch to you or your firm, what's the one piece of advice you'd give me?
Consider the venture studio model carefully, and start thinking about your "wishlist" - all the things you need in order to grow your company. We will organize a significant step in our due diligence process around that wishlist.
How would you describe your own personal mission and values, and how do they impact the way you invest?
Our firm is animated by the values of our team; we have created an approach that gets us in the trenches daily with companies that improve lives and are led by a truly diverse group of founders. We are a team that believes in strong returns and performance that benefit from the impactful missions of our companies and the extraordinary bravery of our diverse founders. We set out to help create a new approach to venture, and we have been doing just that for over a decade.
What do you like best about investing in NYC, and what’s your outlook on the future of NYC tech?
New York is the most exciting place in the world to build companies. Not only does NYC draw together all sectors and industries, but it brings together talent and resources like no place on earth. In a time in which entrepreneurship and innovation is diversifying from Silicon Valley, NYC is a hugely powerful engine of growth that has a vibrant tech economy, but where tech is not the only game in town. Our team and I believe deeply in NYC's tech and entrepreneurship community, and that has never been more important than during this pandemic crisis. We believe that the NYC tech ecosystem will only continue to strengthen and benefit from the diversification of innovation across the country.
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