Minsoo Chi

by | Aug 11, 2020

Minsoo Chi

Partner

Minsoo joined Spider Capital in May 2018 as the first investment professional, working across all aspects of the investment process, including sourcing, due diligence, portfolio company support, and investor relations.

Prior to joining Spider Capital, Minsoo was an Associate at NGP Capital, a $1B+ venture firm backed by Nokia. While at NGP Capital, Minsoo focused on growth stage venture investing in Digital Health and SaaS.  Prior to NGP Capital, Minsoo was a Senior Associate Consultant at Bain & Company, where he focused on corporate strategy, GTM strategy, and post-merger integration for Fortune 500 clients, as well as private equity diligence for marquee PE firms.

Minsoo grew up in Seoul, South Korea, and came to the U.S. for high school.  Minsoo received a BS in Neuroscience from Brown University.

 

What are the attributes you look for in founders?
Compelling vision, resilience, and integrity are key attributes which I try to flesh out during initial meetings with founders.

Visionary founders lay the foundation for company culture and they naturally attract exceptional talent.  Strong culture combined with exceptional talent helps form the bedrock for successful companies.

Being a founder means that you will almost certainly have ups and downs.  Many successful companies emerged from hardships and challenges.  I want to back founders who won’t give up easily.

Last but not least, integrity is critical because it builds trust.  Without trust, there is no meaningful relationship.  Integrity means doing what is right.

What does being a venture investor mean to you?
We are here to listen to founders and provide guidance and connections to help them realize their visions.  One of the first things I learned when I got into venture investing is that a venture investor is a kingmaker or queenmaker, not a king or queen.

What do you enjoy the most about working in venture capital?
I love listening to the founders’ stories and visions.  I genuinely think this is the best part of my job and feel very fortunate to have this opportunity.  

What are some of the questions you like to ask founders during your first meeting?
So naturally, I start all my first meetings with founders with “what’s your story?”  I am eager to hear the full story from the beginning (and it can be from childhood).  I also ask “why” a lot. Asking “why” questions usually force founders to think deeply.

Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Seoul, Korea before coming to the U.S. by myself to go to a high school in New Jersey.  I had to adjust to a completely new environment and learned how to be independent and resilient.  In that regard, I am highly empathetic to immigrant and foreign founders.

How did you end up in venture capital?
I studied Neuroscience in college because I wanted to understand how the human brain works.  After college, I started my career as a management consultant at Bain.  It was an incredible two and half years of real-world business training and learning managerial skills.  Then I joined NGP Capital which is a global growth stage venture firm where I focused on digital health and enterprise software.  After two and half years at NGP Capital, I joined as the first full-time investment professional at Spider Capital.

What do you enjoy most outside of work?
I got into golf after moving to the Bay Area in 2016 (…after all, I had to take advantage of the nice weather!).  The more I play, the more I realize that golf can be self-reflective and be used to exercise introspection and learn about my nature and tendencies.  Or maybe I just love socializing in nature for a few hours.