Ben Kepes
- Director at Diversity Limited
GetLatka interview
How Diversity Limited's Ben Kepes Built a Positive Angel Portfolio with 40% of Checks Still in Play (Interview with Ben Kepes)
Ben Kepes (Director of Diversity Limited) spoke to Nathan Latka on February 22, 2023.
Diversity Limited figures from the interview
- Checks Still In Play (Feb 2023)
- 40%
- Positive Outcome Rate (Resolved Checks) (Feb 2023)
- 60%
- Zero Outcome Rate (Resolved Checks) (Feb 2023)
- 40%
- First Angel Check (Cloudability)
- $20k to $30k
“Yeah. So I mean, great thing about B2B SaaS is the the metrics are so obvious. You know, LTV, CAC, you know, ARPU, all of those sorts of things. And so it's kind of pretty easy to assess a company. But fundamentally, I come back to the same thing, is all around team. So, you know, a terrible team can screw up a great idea, but a great team can pivot off a terrible idea and make something good.”
“Yeah. So I invest in a bunch of bunch of different companies. Probably, I guess, one of the highlights is companies I was an investor and I was also the chair of the board of companies called SwipedOn. So that does you know entry management software, building information type stuff. You know, it's a pretty busy field, but they've done a great job organic marketing. They've done a great job of moving”
“Yeah. Overall overall, I'm I'm super lucky. I've got so so say 40% is still in play. My portfolio is in the positive even with those still in play. So so I've done I've done I've done well. And let's see what happens with these other ones. Right now is a difficult time in the sector, so we'll have to see what what shakes out.”
Bio
Ben is a professional board member, a globally-recognized technology commentator, and an entrepreneur Ben has served on the boards of a number of non-profit, privately held and listed companies in New Zealand and the UK. He has won a number of accolades including being a recipient of the Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award in 2016 and being recognised as a Chartered Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Directors in 2021. Ben has been an investor in a large number of early-stage technology startups across three continents and has had successful exits to listed and privately held companies in Canada, the US, and the UK. He has served on the advisory boards of a number of technology startups in New Zealand, Australia, the US, and the UK.