From MVP To VC: NBA Player Launches A $50M Fund And Brings His A-Game To The Entrepreneurial Arena

Muhamad Ali said that he wasn't made in the gym. There is a deep desire, a dream, and a vision that makes a champion.

Early in his career, a legendary athlete like Ali probably realized that the true source of his motivation, passion and success was his spirit and determination. Many athletes from different fields have pursued second careers in business and entrepreneurship.

Veteran NBA Star Omri Casspi launched a unique, early stage VC fund this week and joined this A-list of athletes. For over a decade, Casspi was an NBA player and captain of Israel's national basketball team. Prior to his retirement last year, he was determined to join the growing Israeli entrepreneurial scene and become an active angel investor.

After retiring and returning to Israel, he decided to ramp up his activity in the early-stage tech scene.

He co-founded Sheva, a $50M early-stage investment fund with David Citron, after a few successful investments.

He says that the game of basketball has given him more than he ever dreamed of. I feel that my old and new career paths are similar, as ambition and personal drive are the key to success. Many of my colleagues have taken this route as well.

Sheva will focus on pre-seed, seed stage and opportunistic series A investments. The fund will make investments in about 20 companies. It has invested in several companies.

Former athletes have a very unique mindset that is fueled by perseverance and geared to take on the obstacles. Many athletes are known for their entrepreneurial skills, but some have failed or are less business savvy than others. Caspi believes that the difference between successful and unsuccessful athletes is their ability to transfer skills from one area of expertise to another. My experience as a professional athlete and the captain of a team helps me assess founders: Who really wants IT, how would they deal with adversity, are they willing to go the extra mile, and so on.

Slam-dunking in a different net.

I've always been a hard worker, the first one at the gym and the last one to leave. I believe that the same level of energy is required of an early-stage investor, and I'm eager to bring it as well as my wide network to provide real value to founders.

The former NBA star and his partner are confident that their new fund is an unconventional one. It creates a misbalance between investors and founders. When we look at the overall future potential of early-stage investments, we offer to take a much smaller piece of the pie, which increases our chances of getting the investment and reduces the predatory nature of aggressive ownership.

Portfolio construction is one of the reasons why they are unconventional. When the time between funding rounds has shortened dramatically, early stage investors have to decide whether to exercise their pro-rata right in a company that has achieved very little traction, or if they should stay out. The reality is that most subsequent funding rounds happen after very little progress with outliers who demonstrate real traction. The cool part is that mostLPs nowadays are looking for direct investment opportunities in later stage rounds. We facilitate direct investment in the emerging winners of our portfolio, as well as in startups that we might have missed. The model is infinitely better from the perspective of economics.

They are looking for the next big company. We try to focus on Who more than What first, as we believe a startup has many variables affecting its success, business models, technology, and markets, but for the most part the team stays constant.