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Altos 기사 및 인터뷰
Ho Nam(co-founder of Altos) 인터뷰
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yoonsik
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Find deep value to build companies for long term: Altos Ventures
2022.06.09 09:26:36 | 2022.06.09 09:27:10
Value investing is like mining rough diamonds and patiently polishing the gems to turn them into more valuable jewelry, said co-founder of Altos Ventures that has hit the jackpot with long-term investments in now household names such as Roblox, Woowa Brothers, Krafton, Coupang, and Hyperconnect.
Altos Ventures co-founder and managing director Nam Ho
“If you are not looking for the best or the hottest companies or regions, you have a better chance of finding deep value - something which other people overlook or underestimate,” Nam Ho, co-founder and managing director at Altos Ventures, told Maeil Business Newspaper in a recent interview.
Established in Silicon Valley in 1996, Altos Ventures is a unique first-stage venture capital firm that has brought the concept of value investment advocated by investment masters such as Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffett to venture investment.
But value investing by Altos Ventures is not simply an investment approach of buying an undervalued company with intrinsic value at big discounts. It is “deep value investing” that is about “finally seeing something profound and deep underneath the surface, when others are still only seeing the tip of the iceberg, and still making judgements,” Nam wrote on Twitter.
It is more like a process of “looking for diamonds in the rough” unlike other investors that try to find a “perfect diamond sold by a well-known jeweler like Tiffany’s,” said Nam. “We took a different path. That changed everything.”
If there are parts that the market does not yet know about the intrinsic value of a fast-growing company, Altos Ventures will double down on its investment. This is how Altos Ventures has found and joined a series of funding rounds for Woowa Brothers, the operator of South Korea’s No. 1 food delivery app Baedal Minjok, as well as popular online game Roblox.
Altos Ventures also paid attention to Korea at the time when its rivals were chasing emerging countries such as China and India since the 2000s.
Altos Ventures also focuses on long-term investment in undervalued companies to build the companies together with the management with a strong sense of purpose, instead of seeking to cash out of its investments as soon as possible.
Whereas other venture investors try to reduce risk through diversification, Altos Ventures has taken the opposite way of reducing risk through concentration. This is possible for Altos Ventures that does not chase trends or hot sectors. It always studies an individual company and market on its independent merits to avoid hypes but find strong fundamentals that can justify its investment.
Once it chooses its investment target, Altos Ventures stays with the company for the long term with commitment to building the company with its partnering leaders with a vision for the future. But most other venture capitalists in Silicon Valley opt to diversify their investments in multiple startups instead of concentration.
This different path and investment approach have made Altos Ventures finally come under a limelight in the global venture capitalist world. It was tough to secure clients immediately after the company’s launch in mid-1990s. But Altos Ventures finally succeeded in persuading a university endowment portfolio manager to become its client with its different investment approach, Nam said.
“They thought we were different enough that we might add something to their portfolio. Took a chance. Still with us after 17 years,” he said.
In his 2006 article, Lessons from a professional gambler Nam wrote: "The real issue with larger funds is that interests start to diverge between VCs and entrepreneurs. Without alignment of interests, it`s hard to develop the trust and bonds needed to build great companies. To align interests, VCs should raise smaller funds, invest more personal money, and focus on building solid businesses rather than exits."
Altos Ventures has maintained the tag A Different Approach to Venture Capital on its Twitter account for over 10 years, the key to its success.
By Shin Hyun-kyu and Minu Kim
Al
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알토스벤처스 HBR 케이스 스터디
Altos Ventures (A) ABSTRACT In December 2012, Altos Ventures General Partners Han Kim, Anthony Lee, and Ho Nam met to discuss the future of the firm. Altos had already adjusted its strategy multiple times. It began as a U.S.-focused venture capital investor whose first two funds were backed by a sole limited partner, a South Korean financial conglomerate. In late 2001, the partners made their first transformative decision, raising a fund from traditional institutional LPs to focus on bootstrapped technology companies. In 2008, Altos again refined its strategy, this time to fund similar capital-efficient companies but with more “explosive growth” potential. Now, in 2012, the firm was running out of capital and did not have the realized track record to raise another traditional institutional fund. They considered two options: raise a South Korea-focused VC fund or offer more co-investment opportunities to LPs through a “mini” fund. What should Altos do to stay afloat?
실리콘밸리의 알토스벤처스 탐구 기사
2022.6.13 | 470호 | 구독하기 | 지난호 글씨가 잘 안보이시나요? 여기를 눌러 웹에서 보세요 안녕하세요! 실리콘밸리에 나와있는 신현규 특파원입니다. 때는 2003년. 미국 네브라스카 주와 아이오와 주 경계에 있는 도시 '오마하' (Omaha). 인구 약 50만명 가량의 이 작은 도시에 갑자기 전국에서 2만명 가까운 수많은 사람들이 구름처럼 몰려들고 있었어요. 추운 동쪽도시 뉴욕에서 날아온 사람들도 있었고, 따뜻한 남서쪽도시 LA와 샌프란시스코에서 온 사람들도 있었죠. 온 곳은 다 달랐지만 얼굴은 모두 들떠 있었어요. 마치 BTS의 공연에 참석한 팬들의 표정처럼 곧 다가올 지적 성찬에 그들의 두뇌에는 침이 잔뜩 고여 있었죠. 오마하가 어디에 있는지 위치에요! 그들이 모두 기다리던 것은 한류스타나 빅테크 기업의 CEO가 아니었어요. 멀리서 비행기를 타고 날아온 수만명의 사람들이 기립박수와 함께 환영한 인물은 70세가 넘은 할아버지 두 사람. 게다가 그들은 최신형 스마트폰이나 멋진 신형 전기차 같은 것들을 소개하러 나온 것도 아니었어요. 책상 위에는 자신들이 좋아하는 제품이자 투자한 회사의 제품인 코카콜라 한 캔과 씨즈캔디(See's Candy)만이 놓여져 있었을 뿐이죠. 그렇게 등장한 오늘의 주인공은 워런 버핏과 찰리 멍거. 워런 버핏은 당시 빌 게이츠에 이어 세계 2위 부자 (당시 재산 350억 달러 - 당시 환율 약 35조원) 였어요. 워런 버핏과 찰리 멍거의 2003년 주주총회 모습 워런 버핏은 자신이 세운 회사 '버크셔 헤더웨이'의 주주총회에 참석한 미국 전역의 주주(투자자)들에게 여러 질문과 답변을 하고 있었어요. 세계 2위의 부자에게 많은 사람들이 투자의 비결을 물어봤죠. (당시 영상 링크) 그렇게 오전 내내 질문공세가 이어지고 난 다음, 점심을 먹으러 일어나기 직전에 캘리포니아 샌프란시스코에서 온 30대 후반의 젊은 벤처투자자 한 사람이 일어났어요. 그리고, 이렇게 질문을 했죠. "버크셔 헤더웨이는 위대하게 될 수 있는 회사에 투자하고, 위대한 경영자들을 고용하여 회사의 가치를 올리고 있는 것 같습니다. 그래서 매우 감사합니다. 그런데 두 분이 경영자들을 선정하는 기준이 무엇인지 알고 싶습니다. 두 분은 어떤 경영자를 좋아하시나요?"