Investor Connect - 571 - Jeff Stewart of GPO Fund

In this episode, Hall welcomes back Jeff Stewart, Co-Founder & Managing Director of GPO Fund. The GPO team invests in tech-driven, founder-led, North American companies that can harness Asia-Pacific public capital markets to achieve growth, business expansion, and market leadership. Historically, venture capital succeeded by investing early in companies that later went public to access growth capital, establish market leadership and provide ROI. Over the past twenty years, the U.S. IPO market has shifted focus to mega-cap listings. Mid-sized companies now rarely attract growth capital through U.S. public offerings. Venture capital time horizons have elongated to over ten years and M&A and private equity are often the only strategic outcomes, stunting opportunities for companies to realize their full potential. Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific economies and investment capital are rapidly expanding. There is a significant demand in Asia-Pacific to invest in high-growth technology companies that can expand globally and list on an APAC exchange. Jeff is an investor, serial entrepreneur, and inventor with experience scaling technology-enabled international businesses. Jeff began his career as a Management Consultant at Ernst & Young's Technology Practice, living on the road, advising Global 1000 financial institutions and exchanges. While still in his 20s he started his first technology company. He has since started numerous venture-backed companies, including two companies included in Inc. 500 lists of the fastest-growing companies. In 2014, Jeff's FinTech start-up was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer, and that same year, Jeff was recognized as the William F. Glaser Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year. Today, Jeff is a Managing Director at the Global Public Offering Fund, which he co-founded in 2018 to invest in founder-led, growth stage, technology companies. Jeff shares with Hall what excites him now, what sectors he focuses on, some of his past experiences with startups, and some of the challenges they face. You can visit GPO Fund at www.gpofund.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/global-public-offering-fund, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/gpofund. Jeff can be contacted via email at [email protected], and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/stewartjeffrey/. Music courtesy of Bensound.