A VC founder says times of 'chaos' can be prime for starting the best companies
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- VC founder Abhijoy Mitra told BI that economic uncertainty can create transformative companies.
- He said "tectonic shifts" let founders reimagine the future of key industries, like AI and energy.
- Mitra and his cofounders outlined other key factors to starting a successful company.
Markets are ping-ponging, tariffs are on-again-off-again, the job market is unstable — and the cofounder of a venture capital firm sees opportunity.
Abhijoy Mitra, who founded venture capital firm CIV alongside partners Jeff Rosenthal and Patrick Maloney, told Business Insider that some of the most successful VC funds have capitalized on volatility.
"Some of the funds that have performed fantastically well over the last few decades are funds that are able to actually invest in times of entropy and chaos, when things are in flux and things are transforming," he said. "I think lots of great companies are born out of periods of displacement." Mitra mentioned Microsoft, IBM, and Airbnb, all of which were founded during recessions.
CIV both backs existing companies and builds new ones in key industries, including AI and energy. Mitra, who has a background in technology investing, said startups are especially well-positioned to capitalize on times of "wild chaos."
"There's a tectonic shift happening in real time, and there's an opportunity to sort of reimagine the way industries are being built," he said. "Uncertainty, while long term certainly is not desirable, it does create pockets of opportunity."
The CIV founders focus on companies that they think will define future industries in the US, and stay both relevant and profitable beyond short-term uncertainty. Mitra and Rosenthal told BI that prioritizing a large market, capital efficiency, and the right business partners are other keys to success.
In the past few years, VC firms have downsized and investors have raised the bar when deciding which companies to back. The industry's fading luster is now backlit by general economic volatility, with a potential recession looming.
Mitra isn't alone in seeing opportunity in the disorder, though. Market experts previously told BI that it might actually be a good time to buy stocks.