Q&A with Landon Ainge of Between The Coasts Ventures
Managing Partner
Luminary Series:
Between The Coasts Ventures (B/C Ventures) is a $60M Seed Stage Venture fund focused on finding the companies with initial traction and high upside. B/C attracts founders that seek to raise less $1M – $3M in order to grow more efficiently. The founders between the coasts do not have another methodology to win, so they prioritize revenue early, which helps identify and qualify the right types of founders. B/C Ventures focuses on B2B Fintech, Vertical SaaS and Consumer Products with defensible IP.
A private Family Office Insights Luminary Series Webinar featuring Landon Ainge a rising star in the Venture Capital space who is bringing a different message to the Venture Capital Industry … capital efficiency. His venture capital firm Between The Coasts Ventures focuses on regions in the Middle of the U.S. where he argues the upside for investors/LP’s are greater. Prior to launching Between The Coasts Ventures, Landon co-founded and exited a telecommunications company for kids (Gabb Wireless), Completed over $450M worth of acquisitions, launch the retail app of the year at Overstock.com and continues to run an angel group he started called TribeAngels. .
Recording available here of February 27th FOI Luminary Series.
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What is happening in the current Venture Capital landscape today? How is this impacting allocation of capital and deployment?
We are seeing a stark contrast in diverging thought processes mostly correlated with Size and Geography. When it comes to geography we see different approaches of how founders should utilize capital. For the markets between the coasts capital raised is specifically targeted on growth where as the coastal markets tend to allocate more towards technology and market evaluation at the early stage. In 2024 however, we saw an ever bigger impact on the landscape being the concentration of capital into few and few hands. The difference being that mega VC funds raised a significant majority of the capital that was raised in 2024, which leaves a large gap and opportunity for smaller funds (who demonstrate greater alignment with their LP's).
Why do you feel these less publicized geographies provide greater returns?
In Venture Capital if you are able to maintain the upside while also decreasing the number of opportunities where your investment in written down to zero, then this makes the asset class a lot more attractive. The types of founders we back are more capital efficient because they have had to be to get to market (living in between the coasts). It's not that the less publicized markets are better, just that there is significantly less competition. For example 42% of coastal VC's cited concerns about competition being something they worry about. Between The Coasts we get to find and invest in the exceptions, in markets where we have a plethora to choose from.
Why are you focused on this? Why now?
It's my honest belief that it is about 8 times easier to raise money for a company than it is to raise for a fund, the upside to the entrepreneur is higher than being a fund manager as well. So why? I am not dissuaded by difficulty, I thrive under it. I love seeing where there is a disconnect and love to inspire bringing others that see the world the same way I do. Our team is poised to focus on this and realize the benefit to our investors. We would love for you to be part of our fund. Why now? This problem of capital allocation disparagement based on geography is not going away, it is getting bigger. Our fund is focused on effecting more change and having our investors being the benefactors of this market opportunity.
