Women in VC Spotlight: Q&A with Geri Kirilova, Partner at Laconia

Geri Kirilova is a partner at Laconia, which leads investments in seed-stage companies digitizing legacy industries. Geri has a rich background in venture capital, tech, and the startup world and serves as a mentor at both Techstars and Backstage Capital. In this Q&A with Republic Venture Fellow Sophia Naqvi, Geri highlights her journey to and in VC and the responsibility that comes with values-driven leadership.

Could you share why you decided to get involved in VC and why Laconia?

I (somewhat naively) chose to attend an undergrad business school because I wanted to learn about running businesses. As a result, I spent my college years tiptoeing around the magnetic pull of banking and consulting, searching for entrepreneurial opportunities instead. A friend of mine knew I was interested in technology & innovation, so she recommended I apply for an internship at a venture firm during my semester abroad in Prague.

That’s how I met Credo Venture sand began my VC career, intrigued by the opportunity to learn about new companies for a living. One of the things that stood out to me about working in venture capital was the excitement that everyone I met felt about their work. Being around passionate founders and investors was extremely energizing, and for the first time, I felt like I had found my people, professionally. After my Credo internship ended, I moved to another fund called LAUNCHub Venture sin Sofia, and eventuallyI found my way to Laconia in NYC.

At the time, Laconia consisted only of the two founding partners, Jeffrey Silverman and David Arcara. Jeffrey and David are both operators turned investors, and the expertise that they bring to the table, coupled with their deep empathy for the startup rollercoaster, makes them exceptional partners for founders. The three of us quickly learned that we work extremely well together, and I couldn’t be happier that the opportunity for me to join the team full-time arose.

Having the ability to not only invest in early stage companies but also build a new venture firm, on our own terms, has been a one-of-a-kind experience.We’ve been able to build a seed fund that is highly aligned with founders, given our fund concentration (we only do 4-6 new investments per year, and we invest with the intention of helping the vast majority of our companies reach a successful outcome). With a focus on sales acceleration, operations, and capital strategy, we believe that building sustainable businesses is the first step to generating outsized VC exits, and this focus on growing the pie rather than chasing zero-sum opportunities has been strongly aligned with both my professional goals and my personal values.

What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the VC industry so far, and what changes do you think are yet to come?

The longer I work in the venture industry, the more layers of dysfunction I discover, making the role even more intriguing. I have written a fair amount about the absurdities of venture investing, the job market, and the disparities in funding outcomes, and while we have made progress in some ways, it is clear that we still have a long way to go to reach market efficiency.As venture has become more popular over the past few years, the industry has faced increasing pressure to move away from its historically insular nature in order to more adequately capture the entirety of the market’s potential. For example, far more venture openings have publicly posted job descriptions and application processes now than ever before, and VCs are increasingly signaling that they are open to receiving cold emails/pitches from startups rather than relying entirely on referrals from their existing networks.

What we haven’t seen yet is widespread changes made to entire decision-making processes.What happens after all these cold applications are submitted? Are they reviewed the same wayas the “warm” ones? Do we have standardized frameworks for decision-making? Fixing the top of the funnel is only the first step, and unless there are structural changes made to all steps in the selection process (for both hiring and funding), we’re likely not going to see a difference int he results. I believe that widespread adoption of more structured practices and processes will be critical to unlocking the next era of outsized venture outcomes.

What is the most important part of building an investment thesis, and how many industries did you research in-depth before landing on the ones that interest you the most?

At Laconia, we lead seed rounds for b2b software companies, and we are sector-agnostic. As a result, our approach is opportunistic and founder-driven:we dig into specific industries as part of our diligence when an opportunity piques our interest, and our specialization is iterative over the course of multiple investment processes. Over the past few years, we’ve dug deeply into legal tech, e-commerce infrastructure, and digital health, to name a few areas, and we are always open to exploring new sectors. We are generally intrigued by areas where existing markets or workflows are archaic and inefficient -- we often refer to this as opportunities for “revolutionizing legacy industries” -- and companies that are increasing accessibility, lowering barriers to entry, and growing the pie in some capacity (e.g. in someway making it easy for anyone to start a new business).

What are the three most important skills that make a great VC investor?

Discipline, adaptability, and management (of people, expectations, and your own time). Venture success is often measured not in years but in decades, and it’s challenging to strike a balance between sticking to a long-term investment strategy and making appropriate adjustments as market conditions change. Regarding management, it’s easy to forget that venture capital fundamentally deals with people who have partially aligned, partially competitive incentives, so it’s important to clearly and transparently manage relationships, goals, and bandwidth.

How do you define leadership, and how has this changed as you’ve advanced in your career?

To me, strong leadership boils down to accountability. As a leader, you are responsible for the results and consequences of your decisions, and you are in charge of fostering this accountability within your span of control, by leading by example and clearly defining expectations and norms.I’m still early in my career, so I undoubtedly still have a lot to learn about leadership. One thing that I am constantly working on is using my leadership position to effectively create change and push boundaries without losing the buy-in of those whose support is critical. As previously mentioned, there are often multiple incentives at play, and finding win-win strategies is an evergreen challenge.