Brian Hopcraft: Advice for Entrepreneurs

Our most recent guest to join us on the Fast Frontiers Podcast is Brian Hopcraft, Managing Director & General Partner at Lewis & Clark Ventures. He joined us on the podcast to share some of his top pieces of advice for entrepreneurs.

Brian told us a bit about his origin story, specifically about the “birth” of Lewis & Clark Ventures. According to Brian, it all started when he began working at a software company, where he “fell in love with the industry.” It was a love that never left, clearly.

A bit later down the road, alongside founding partner and co-partner Tom Hilman, Brian began looking around and noticed a telling void in the industry. “As any good entrepreneur, you think of problems or opportunities, and the problem we kept seeing throughout our careers and throughout investing and being involved with early-stage companies was that there wasn’t enough capital in the middle of the country.”

The pair decided to do something about it. “We thought that the most impact we could have would be at the A stage. So we said, ‘well let’s see if we can raise a fund focused on A stage investing.’ Really, kind of early A, maybe late seed, is how we think of it. And we set out then in 2015 to raise a fund,” Brian explained.

The rest is history (and one filled with great success). One big thing we believe in at Fast Frontiers is learning from experts and especially experts who have firsthand knowledge—and experience—to share. As Brian has both of these in excess, we asked him to share some of his best advice for entrepreneurs.

Ask for Help

Brian explained that there is no shame in asking for help, especially when you first start out on your entrepreneurial journey. “I look back at the days when I was an entrepreneur, I probably made every mistake in building and starting and growing a company you could make,” he said.

For this reason, Brian is a huge advocate for asking for help when you need it from those who have gone before you and have invaluable experience under their belts—those who really know their stuff. Brian recalled that when he was starting out, “I had the foolish idea that I had to kind of figure it out on my own, and the reality is there are so many people out there willing to help if you just reach out to them.” Lack of confidence and feeling intimidated kept Brian from reaching out early on in his career: “I was somehow intimidated [and] felt like [I had] to just do this on my own.”

Brian learned how invaluable having the right people to partner with and be mentored by can be, which is why he is now such an advocate of proactivity when seeking out advice. However, Brian does provide one caveat: choose wisely.

While never being afraid to reach out to people is a strength, Brian believes in doing research first: “Certainly try to do some research on the funds and the partners in those funds that you think you might like to work with. Get to know those folks, or just understand what are they known for.”

Brian offered a few key questions to keep in mind and ask yourself about each company or person: What do they specialize in, what are some of the companies they’ve backed, and do I know any of them? “I think CEOs oftentimes don’t do as much research on the venture fund or the partners that’ll be working with them … spend the time to do all the diligence on the personnel side that we’re doing on you, I think is one that I would say is a big thing that oftentimes companies don’t do enough of.”

Dream Big

Another thing Brian wishes someone had told his younger self is to believe in yourself and dream big. “I remember having imposter complex,” Brian recalled before sharing how he struggled with self-doubt when starting his first company. He detailed struggling with inner thoughts, like when he would wonder internally: Who am I to start this company?

Fortunately, Brian received a wake-up call from someone he met while fundraising—the former CEO of Burger King. “[He] was a very easy guy to talk to, and during our conversation, he started talking about how he had imposter complex. And this is somebody who had such a storied career and had great success as the CEO of Burger King!”

This was a shot of perspective that Brian needed at that moment in his own life. About this poignant turning point, Brian shared: “I think it was acknowledging that we all have that fear. We have to get over it and then learn to manage it and deal with it. And it really kind of never goes away in some ways.”

So now, whenever Brian talks to people who have an idea about a company, he doesn’t hesitate to urge them to take the leap and even goes so far as to tell them that it’s going to be the best thing they’ll ever do in their career. “You have no idea where it’s going to go, how successful [you will be] or not, but either way, it’s going to be a pivotal moment in your life,” Brian said.

In summary: take the leap.

We covered so much more in our interview with Brian, including the importance of perseverance and even how to address specific challenges you will face over the course of your venture career. To hear more, listen to the full podcast.