January 2024
Vol 9 | Issue 611

Q&A with Teddy Blank of First Star Ventures

Partner

Mercury Luminary Series:

First Star Ventures invests pre-seed/seed in deep tech startups where the evolutionary edge of computing is transforming industries. New ways of computing will continue to create massive returns and social benefit as they further unlock biology, energy, capital, the physical world and beyond. Computing will drive the future, and we aim to relentlessly position ourselves to stay at the frontier, where history and fortunes are made. We’re actively investing out of Fund III.

 

Join us for a private Family Office Insights Mercury Series Webinar featuring Teddy Blank of First Star Ventures.

We’re looking to meet family offices, HNWI and FoF who want exposure to the earliest stage of the next frontiers of massive technology investment opportunities.

January 11, 2024 at 2:15pm-3:15pm EST
RSVP & Confirmation Required
Investors Only Please

About Mercury

Mercury offers banking* for startups — at any size or stage. With an intuitive product experience, founders can access free checking and savings accounts, debit and credit cards, domestic and international wire transfers, treasury, venture debt, and more — and manage their business with confidence. Mercury also offers vibrant community programs that provide founders with the connections, advice, and resources to help them build the next great companies. Launched in 2019, Mercury is trusted by more than 100,000 startups. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust®; Members FDIC.
Contact Shelley Golan: shelley@mercury.com


Family Office Insights is a voluntary, “opt-in” collaborative peer-to-peer community of single family offices, qualified investors and institutional investors. Join the community here www.familyofficeinsights.com


Why do the best founders choose to work with First Star?

We have all been founders before; we know what it takes to get the early, messy days of a startup to come together in a recipe for massive outcomes. We are honest. We empathize. We know how to help startups make money.

Why do the best LPs choose to work with First Star?

They believe in our vision of the future - that the evolutionary edge of computing is transforming industries. They trust our judgment, access, communication and authenticity. They want to make and grow their fortunes, and they believe that outsized returns come from outsized conviction at the earliest stages.

Who should not invest in First Star?

You shouldn't invest in First Star if you believe that the ways VCs have made money the past decade-plus are likely to continue. We are living in a new technology and computing paradigm, and the startups that drive huge returns for investors going forward will look very different from the SaaS and consumer startups of past eras. Hard tech is transforming industries, driving returns and building a better future.


Teddy Blank of First Star Ventures

Teddy Blank has spent his career working to grow companies from their earliest days and answering the question of, “how do we get our first ten customers?”. He was previously co-founder of Tempo, a secure, differential privacy-enabled marketplace for biometric data from top athletes. Prior to starting Tempo, Teddy led Sales and BD for Symphony Commerce, an ecommerce service as a platform startup backed by $52m from CRV, Bain, and FirstMark which grew revenues to $10M+ ARR in less than three years. Teddy began his career as an analyst at Accenture, working across industries from telecom to banking to public transit. He is an advisor to early-stage deep tech startups and loves the challenge of taking a business from zero to the moon. Teddy holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BA from Amherst College.

Contact Teddy: teddy@firststar.vc