As investors, we want to have an impact. We want to help entrepreneurs, build sustainable companies, improve lives, and change industries. When I think back to those situations where we’ve made the biggest impact on entrepreneurs, they’ve all got one thing in common: they were all times when we believed when others didn’t.

For example, when…

…we wrote that first cheque before anybody else.

…we led a bridge round when neither new nor existing investors wanted to put in new money.

…we helped founders through a tough pivot that almost killed the company.

When it comes to investing, it’s usually much easier to follow the herd and hope that everyone else has thought it through. After all, all those people (and big name investors) can’t be wrong. There’s a lot of venture capital in this market that follows existing momentum.

At Version One, we’re proud that strong convictions are at the core of our investment approach. It takes a lot of courage to stand apart from the crowd. But if you have strong convictions in both the entrepreneur and opportunity you invested in, then it’s really easy to believe even when others don’t.