Innovation Crush | How an Investor Thinks Through Innovation
Every day, 1000’s of new bright-eyed and bushy tailed companies sprout from depths of start-up soil. Some are formed in incubators, and some are the results of a few cocktails and some ink on a napkin. Others come from angry laid-off executives, and even some stem from the optimistic naiveté of college and high school students. Like a song on the radio, we never quite know how some blow up and become chart topping billion-dollar organizations while others – even crowd favorites – simply bang, pop and fizzle; never to be heard from again.
On Innovation Crush, Hamet Watt helps shed some light on the intricacies of successes – and failures – in the start-up community. Last year, the humbly brilliant and veteran entrepreneur (I totally signed up for www.MoviePass.com the second I saw it), joined Upfront, as a venture partner. His new post comes on the tail end of the company changing their name from GRP Partners, and announcing a new, $200 million fund which allows them to now take the reigns as LA’s largest venture fund.
With a focus on innovation, Hamet embodies what it takes to be successful at his new post: a passion for people, the ability to spot a good idea, business acumen, and a natural curiosity about how things work – or don’t work – in the world. During the interview, he discusses where his passion comes from, technologies and trends that that are shaping our future, the relevance of Silicon Beach, and hard lessons he’s learned from his own career.
