Good, Bad? The intersection of VC and innovation by Jordan Kostelac

”History is written by victors…” as they say. It is. But what if losers’ stories have all the same core components as those of the winners? Are we then learning a damn thing from listening to the experiences of the former?

During a career of discovering and implementing innovative Property Technology (PropTech) solutions in the Corporate Real Estate markets, I have become increasingly troubled by the number of great start-ups I was seeing fail because of their inability to access funding to grow their business. I decided to try and do something concrete about it, founding my own start-up (Deploy) to address the problems and challenges such start-ups face.

Ironic move, eh!

My mission in founding Deploy and using my PropTech reputation, profile and network to explore this subject and try and alleviate the pain is, at least to some degree, born from that survivor’s guilt and is a reaction to what I believe has been survivorship bias on the part of successful VCs and the start-ups that they have funded.

In this DD, I invite you to help me in my ongoing exploration of the intersection of the venture capital industry and innovation and whether it has had a net positive or a net negative on society:

The Advent of Adventure Capital and its Mythos
Black Swans, White Swans, & Ugly Ducklings
Does Venture Capital Create Innovation or Just Show Up for It?

Jordan Kostelac is a well-known provacateur in innovation and transformation who specializes in helping organizations shift from traditional business models to modern, innovative, resilient, and robust digital enterprises. He has held various roles across different regions, including adviser, consultant, and facilitator, and has more than 20 years of experience in reimagining how businesses can be most effective. His clients have included international companies, small business owners, start-ups, and large corporations, and he has provided them with strategic direction and insight into the digital economy.

His current project is Deploy is a social capital network that connects industry experts with startups and early investors. Experts scout for startups in their respective domains of expertise and refer those deals to early investors. Scouts are rewarded with a percentage of the carried interest in that investment.

He is also a prominent voice in the global PropTech community, both online and at industry events, and was responsible for managing the first cohort of Propell Asia, a joint accelerator program between JLL and Lendlease. In addition, he co-founded UrbanLab, the first Proptech accelerator in mainland China.

In addition to his role as Asia Pacific's PropTech Provocateur, Jordan is a partner in two Hong Kong craft breweries and advises HKWalls and the 14th Factory, two internationally recognized arts festivals based in Hong Kong.