5th Newsletter (Week of 7/20)
Welcome back to EVCA's growth vertical newsletter! EVCA is a non-profit dedicated to supporting the emerging (pre-partner) venture capital community. Feel free to visit our website: https://www.evca.org/. Twice a month we'll be looking at the latest news and trends in growth investing in a fun and interesting way, while also helping you get to stay on top of what’s going on in the EVCA community. Subscribe to our newsletter here if you're new!
Recent CIO Survey by Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley recently published their Q2 CIO survey. High level - CIOs forecast a record decline in IT budget spend in Q2 ‘20, as COVID-19 impacts widened. A 4.4% decline in spend is now expected for 2020, breaking a 10 year run of positive growth. Looking beyond 2020, longer-term spend expectations remain broadly stable.
Expectations on 2020 budget took an 180-degree turn in Q2 with the majority of CIOs believing spend will decline.
Hardware and services are the most impacted while software and communications are relatively more resilient.
Digital Transformation, Cloud Computing, Security Software, Collaboration Software, and AI/ML/Process are the projects that remain priorities for surveyed CIOs. ERP Applications and Consulting are two areas most likely to see cuts.
Another interesting stat is that public cloud adoption is 25% of the total enterprise workload today and is expected to grow to almost 50% by 2023. Part of this can be accredited to the broader digital acceleration catalyzed by COVID.
AMA
For this newsletter, we are excited to feature two investors outside of the Bay Area!
Juri Zguri @ Georgian Partners (Toronto, Canada)
What’s one thing that people who know you well would be surprised to learn?
I am an avid walker. I would imagine most of my friends wouldn’t know this about me given I typically go for ~hour a day either in the early mornings before 9AM or past 9PM. My walks are typically aimless in direction but steer towards exploring new neighbourhoods in Toronto.
Where’s your favorite place you’ve ever travelled to and why?
Favorite place has got to be Japan which I visited during my grad trip. I could rave on about the beauty of Hakone just outside of Tokyo, the magnificent Mt. Fuji or the cultural experience in Kyoto. But, I think I’ll sum it up with my favourite food: Ramen. If ever in Tokyo make sure you visit Nakiryu and Tsuta for mouth-watering $10 bowls!
What’s one of your proudest accomplishments?
Hmm. One of proudest accomplishments is actually pretty recent! I had the great pleasure of working very closely and exclusively as part of a secondment with one of our portfolio companies. The company’s customers got hit pretty hard by COVID and naturally the struggles trickled down to them. Despite the work being draining at times as we looked to preserve cash, being able to go through that with an overall positive outcome for the company was a pretty feel-good moment!
Caitlin Bolnick @ OpenView (Boston, MA)
What’s one hobby you’ve had to give up due to the lockdown? What hobby have you had some more time to catch up on?
I absolutely love trying new restaurants and exploring new cuisines. This has obviously not been the case during COVID, but on the flip-side I’ve been able to improve my cooking. I even bought a couple of cookbooks where I’ve been testing out different recipes 😊
There has been tons of restrictions on travel outside the U.S. this summer and perhaps even beyond that. What’s one place you can’t wait to travel to post lockdown?
Pre-COVID, I spent a lot of time in Europe for work and I really miss being able to travel to London/Paris, both in terms of being able to connect with the incredible entrepreneurial community there but also just from enjoying both places personally. I also really want to go to Japan, but that will also need to wait for now.
You were previously an operator before joining OpenView. Is being an operator the number one thing you’d do outside of venture? If not, what is?
Mmm. That’s a really good question. I mean I loved operating. There’s something so awesome about being able to directly impact the business and drive it forward. But honestly, if I could pick any other occupation, it would definitely be like a chef, bartender, or therapist. I would love to be exceptional at cooking and making cocktails and/or being able to get into the inner-workings of folks minds!
Thanks Juri & Caitlin for sharing! Feel free to reach out to Juri (jzguri@georgianpartners.com) or Caitlin (caitlin@ov.vc) directly to get to know them better.
Thanks Everyone!
-EVCA Growth Team
Jeremy Zhu (jeremyzhu@capitalg.com)
Russell Yue (ryue@higcapital.com)
Alexander Lin (alexlin1@stanford.edu)
Shaurya Mehta (smehta12@stanford.edu)