purpose fund. We want to advance the commercialization mission of the university and we want to generate a positive return. We very much see (investing in early stage companies) as part of our role.
We try to do a new investment in eight to 12 weeks from the time we first we meet with (entrepreneurs.) We try to get through the process in about three months. We’re not leading the investment; we rely on diligence and other things from other investors. This chancellor is very committed to getting things moving much more quickly at the UT system.
X: What are the fund’s quantifiable goals?
J.G.: We invest in any company from any UT institution, where either there is UT equity in the company or IP from one of our institutions. Our objective is to be a long-term partner in a frictionless co-investor role. Our objective is to move money quickly and efficiently. We will go multiple rounds; we will stay the distance.
X: Do you seek out deals or wait for them to approach you?
J.G.: It goes both ways. We are actively out there looking for deals and also accept deals [that] come to us. We are industry agnostic, though two-thirds of the UT system research portfolio is broadly life sciences.
On the low end, we’re in for about $100,000 per round; on the high end around $2 million per round. We’ll be aggressive about trying to advance the company, protect the company’s rights, and give them access to UT.
X: What have been the biggest obstacles in meeting the fund’s goals? There is this idea that universities like UT can be difficult to work with in more entrepreneurial endeavors.
J.G.: I have found the UT system to be very supportive, but to your point, it is not business as usual. I’ve been here about 18 months and our big challenge now is communicating to people. It’s a new team at the Horizon Fund. The process is much faster. We’re much more transparent, we’re writing bigger checks, and are active in exercising our board observer rights. I think there was a period where you didn’t have leadership in the office. It was inactive or was slow to respond. We’ve got pretty much all of that worked out now.
Our biggest challenge is communication to the broader community that it’s kind of a new day here.
