The nuances of growth stage investment, with Jasmine Robinson

The fourth in our 'Investor's View' series welcomes Sports Loft advisory board member and partner at Causeway, Jasmine Robinson, enabling us to dive into how growth-stage venture capital differs to early investment models. Along the way, the conversation touches upon using angel investment as a 'foot-in-the-door' strategy, the challenges of investing in B2C businesses in a downturn, and what makes web3.0 startups such an interesting proposition in these times. Causeway, founded by Wyc Grousbeck, Bob Higgins and Mark Wan is one of the most respected names in growth-stage sports, media and entertainment investment, with a portfolio that spans broadcasters such as FloSports, rights holders like Formula E and tech scale-ups like Zwift and Freeletics. So, it's fascinating to hear what it takes to keep an ear to the ground across all these verticals within the sports environment. Jasmine also explains her relationship-driven approach to seeking out Causeway's next big investment, discusses how to have tough conversations with founders and the Causeway style of nurturing their portfolio companies. "Because we're so relationship-oriented, one of the things that was really hard about the pandemic is that we like to  have a handful of personal interactions with the CEO and  management team prior to making an investment," Jasmine told us. "We don't really like having to do everything over Zoom, so we're glad that the travel is more back to normal. We really go try to spend dedicated time and show up and get to know the team – to gather as much information as we can – as well as just be really clear about the kind of partner we are. And make sure that that's really what the management team is looking for." Our host Yanni calls Jasmine, "one of the smartest people around", so have a listen and learn why.