Sapphire Ventures
Partnering with expansion-stage, enterprise software companies that we believe can become category leaders.
Sapphire Partners
Limited partner investing in exceptional early-stage venture fund managers.
Sapphire Sport
Partnering with early-stage companies at the nexus of technology and culture.
Menu close
Sapphire
Table of contents
The #OpenLP Podcast Miniseries: Beezer Clarkson, Sapphire Partners
Written by
Published
September 29, 2022
Table of contents
Share

#OpenLP is doing a mini-takeover of Notation’s Origins podcast. Listen to episode one featuring Notation, episode two featuring Kim Lew of the Columbia University endowment, episode three featuring Saul Klein of LocalGlobe, and episode 4 featuring Jaclyn Hester of Foundry Group.

In this episode of the #OpenLP podcast miniseries, the script is flipped and Notation Capital’s Nick Chirls hosts Sapphire Partners’ Beezer Clarkson for a deep-dive on the current state of the LP and VC market, given recent dislocations. 

Beezer began her career in financial services over 20 years ago at Morgan Stanley in its global infrastructure group. Since, she has held various direct and indirect venture investment roles, as well as operational roles in software business development at Hewlett Packard. Prior to joining Sapphire in 2012, Beezer managed the day-to-day operations of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson Global Network, which then had $7 billion under management across 16 venture funds worldwide.

In 2016, Beezer led the launch of OpenLP, an effort to help foster greater understanding in the entrepreneur-to-LP tech ecosystem. Beezer currently serves on the NVCA Board of Directors and is an Advisor to Wesleyan University’s Investment Committee.

During the conversation, Beezer and Nick cover:

  • What Beezer is seeing on the ground
  • Where we might be in the current cycle / downturn
  • How VCs can respond both strategically and tactically
  • A recap of H1 activity and what’s to come in Q4.

LISTEN ON APPLE PODCASTS

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

Legal disclaimer

Disclaimer: Nothing presented within this article is intended to constitute investment advice, and under no circumstances should any information provided herein be used or considered as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy an interest in any investment fund managed by Sapphire Ventures (“Sapphire”). Information provided reflects Sapphires’ views as of a time, whereby such views are subject to change at any point and Sapphire shall not be obligated to provide notice of any change. Views presented may reflect the authors’ opinion and/or interpretation and Sapphire provides no assurance to the accuracy of such views. Various content and views contained within this article represent those of third party guests, which do not necessarily reflect the views of Sapphire. Such views are subject to change at any point and do not in any way represent official statements by Sapphire. Various statements made by third party guests about Sapphire relate to the nature and type of management services provided by Sapphire and do not constitute testimonials to Sapphires’ investment advisory services and no inference to the contrary should be made. Companies mentioned in this article are a representative sample of portfolio companies in which Sapphire has invested in which the author believes such companies fit the objective criteria stated in commentary, which do not reflect all investments made by Sapphire. A complete alphabetical list of Sapphire’s investments made by its direct growth and sports investing strategies is available here. No assumptions should be made that investments listed above were or will be profitable. Due to various risks and uncertainties, actual events, results or the actual experience may differ materially from those reflected or contemplated in these statements. Nothing contained in this article may be relied upon as a guarantee or assurance as to the future success of any particular company. Past performance is not indicative of future results.