Venture Capital Celebrities
Owning a posh clothing line no longer holds many celebrities’ interest.
It used to be that if a celebrity or sportsman had finished their run in the career or industry they were known for, they would turn their sights to starting a handbag, clothing or fragrance line. But today, those with means and a public profile are increasingly turning to venture capital as a way to spend their money and spread their influence.
A Helping Hand
This trend is very much in keeping with the innovation-heavy times we live in. People don’t just want to start companies—anyone can do that—they want to help find and fund the next big thing. Indeed, profit is no longer the only motive; being the kind of person who “changes the world” is the ultimate status symbol in these startup times.
The latest celebrity to go down this road is American basketball superstar Kobe Bryant. Just fresh off from his retirement from basketball, he recently announced a $100 million fund with investor Jeff Stibel based in Los Angeles. As Business Insider reports, “The two have already invested in 15 businesses together since 2013, including the sports media website The Players Tribune, the telemarketing software company RingDNA, and the video game design firm Scopely. They hope the fund will offer a complementary combination of their skillsets.”
An Upward Trend
Bryant isn’t the first NBA player to set his sights on the entrepreneurial world. His former teammate, Shaquille O’Neal, has numerous investments in media and technology companies. New York Knicks starter Carmello Anthony set up an early stage investment fund called Melo7 Tech Partners. Other celebrities and big names who have gotten into the investment game include Bono, Leonardo DiCaprio, Madonna and even Justin Bieber. Actor Ashton Kutcher is a particularly prolific investor and seems to have a knack for picking out companies that are going to skyrocket; his venture fund A-Grade investments include Spotify, Airbnb and Uber.
Why Venture Capitalism?
On the face of it, a venture capital firm isn’t the most logical step for someone who has finally reached the pinnacle of their career, meaning they don’t have to work quite as hard as they did when starting out. But getting in the VC game is as much about status as it is about success; after all, you don’t invest as a way to get rich, you invest when you already are rich. It’s also a means of expanding one’s sphere of influence into areas where you may not already be prominent. With a simple Tweet or social media post, a super A-list celebrity investor can often drive more interest and traffic to a new product or service than months of direct marketing campaigns could offer. For this reason, celebrities can often envisage entering the investment game as a way to continue using their hard-earned influenced after their career has already peaked.
Shining The Tech Spotlight
The celebrity-tech overlap is also a sign of how the startup and technology world has become very much part of the mainstream. Once the niche domain of geeks and developers, Silicon Valley and its products are now front and center in mainstream culture. The eagerness of high profile individuals who have had massive success in other fields to expand their influence in this sector only drives up tech’s profile
However, that’s not to say that a celebrity-stamped investment is sure to do well. There are plenty of examples of flops that were backed by big names. That’s another factor of the tech world that may attract investors—just because they’ve found massive success in one field, doesn’t mean they’ll effortlessly find it in the VC game. It’s a democratized playing field where often all the money and status in the world can’t help you. In a rather perverse way, this can be appealing for those who’ve reached the pinnacle of success.