In the Room with Mac Conwell II, Founder and Managing Partner at RareBreed Venture
Welcome back to another episode of The Room Podcast! This week, Madison and Claudia welcome McKeever “Mac” Conwell II, Managing Partner at RareBreed Ventures, into The Room. RareBreed Ventures is a Pre-Seed Fund investing in exceptional founders and focusing on companies primarily outside of the tech hubs of SF, NYC, and MA, with a special interest in black businesses in Maryland (Mac is a Baltimore native himself).
This week, Mac and our co-hosts discuss some key themes including the importance of team and trust, tactical advice for starting your own venture fund, and the future for the emerging manager ecosystem. Thank you Mac for joining us on the pod and let’s open the door.
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Key Theme 1: Importance of team and trust
Mac saw the importance of having a strong team behind you early on. He created his first company, a platform to allow people to crowdfund money for gifts, with two of his closest friends. Having those relationships established in the team dynamic allowed them to navigate the world of starting a business with a high level of trust and confidence in one another. Mac’s strong relationships in the Maryland area also landed him great opportunities during his time at Maryland Technology Development Corporation as a Fund Manager. Each of these valuable relationships built over time and have helped to establish the foundation of RareBreed. For people earlier in their career, Mac’s story exemplifies how relationships can manifest overtime into valuable partnerships and businesses.
Key Theme 2: Tactical advice for starting your own venture fund
Mac colorfully describes himself as a “broke VC.” This is in reference to the commonly required “general partner commitment” or “GP commit” referred to in the episode. Traditionally to start a venture firm, the general partner needs to put down their own capital alongside the limited partner base. Structurally, this favors those who have had previous liquidity events or access to immense amounts of capital. Unlike most fund founders, Mac was able to leverage a unique SEC filing to unlock “solicitation” of capital funds for raising Rarebreed. In doing so, any accredited investor was able to invest in Mac and Rarebreed helping to cover the cost of his GP commitment. For aspiring fund creators, Mac explains his novel and clever approach to fundraising earlier in your career.
Key Theme 3: The future for the emerging manager ecosystem
Mac is betting there will continue to be a growing pool of emerging managers. What is categorically an emerging manager? Typically it’s any venture fund that is on their first or second fund. Historically, a vast majority of the dollars at work into traditional ventures come from institutions, like non-profits, endowments, and foundations. Commitments to venture funds are historically not made at scale from individuals because of the cost. However, more money and liquidity being unlocked through larger exits and distributed capital, such as rolling funds.
“We’re going to see a lot more emerging managers. We want to see a lot more funds and we want to see a lot more structures that make it easier. Take me, for example, I don’t have a GP commit and I raise my fund on Twitter. The ability to publish, elicit the ability to build a brand. We’re seeing a lot of emerging managers take this pathway if they’re starting off doing SPVs.”
As access to capital becomes unlocked through new means, and the definition of “venture fundraising” evolves, Mac believes the emerging manager ecosystem will thrive alongside it.
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We will be back next week with another podcast launching on Tuesday, March 1st, at 7AM PST/10AM EST.
Remember you can listen to all episodes on all podcast streaming platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
