Spotlight: BMWiVentures featured team member Baris Guzel

Could you tell a little about yourself? 

Growing up in Turkey, I was obsessed with technology and cars, and I had my first internship on the floor of a car manufacturing plant conducting Kaizen studies while I was studying industrial engineering at Istanbul Technical University. I first worked in venture capital in Hamburg, Germany while studying on a DAAD scholarship. I really enjoyed studying to understand the ways in which a smaller company could gain the upper hand over a large incumbent. I was hooked. I got my further engineering and financial chops via a Masters of Engineering management at Duke and an MBA at UNC Kenan Flagler Business School, where I led VCIC, the largest venture capital competition among top business schools around the world. After that, I worked for top-tier investment banks on Wall Street, first BofA Merrill Lynch and then Deutsche Bank, where I advised leading technology companies on a wide array of strategic considerations, including M&A and IPO. After working for some institutional VC funds in San Francisco, I joined BMW i Ventures in early 2017.

What do you focus on at BMW i Ventures?

My engineering background helps me think big and see the vision that entrepreneurs are bringing to the table, while my investment banking background helps me understand how the capital markets could potentially value such businesses in the steady state. I tend to work on enterprise software, fintech, marketplace business models, and of course climate tech such as battery (I estimate I’ve talked to more than 200 battery companies by this point). Anyone who knows me would tell you I also focus deeply on people. The entrepreneurs and founders we invest in are each company’s greatest asset, and I deeply value and strive to be a trusted counselor.

What was your pathway into venture capital?

I’m probably one of the most unlikely VCs out there. Odds are this is the first time you are hearing a name like mine. As a matter of fact, I was born in Mardin, a stunningly beautiful historic city on the Silk Road yet with one of the lowest GDPs in Turkey. Yet, I was always attracted to Silicon Valley and venture capital due to its disruptive potential. It uniquely gives me the opportunity to leverage my diverse experiences in education and work. What I really love about being an investor is that it gives me the opportunity to learn about a wide range of startups in a day, to be intellectually challenged, and to test my judgment and aptitude on which startups to work with. I enjoy working with entrepreneurs to help them make their dreams come true. 

What do you look for in a potential investment?

I get excited when I see a world-class team leveraging cutting-edge technologies to address large and archaic markets to bring effectiveness and efficiency. I get even more excited when I hear many people claiming that this wouldn’t work. These companies are clearly an “n of 1”, not “1 of n.” They do not want to just beat the competition; they aspire to fundamentally change the game. 

Just to give some tangible examples from some of the entrepreneurs I’ve been fortunate work with: Jay Vijayan (former CIO of Tesla) is building Tekion to reimagine the automotive retail displacing 10+ software packages with one seamless ML driven cloud platform in a way that brings dealers, consumers and OEMs together. Ritu Narayan and Vivek Garg at Zum are reimagining the nation’s largest mass transit system--student transportation--by building a software-first platform focusing on sustainability (multi model electric vehicles) and efficiency, which creates huge value for kids, parents and the school districts. Kevin Singerman and Mandar Gokhale at AutoFi are building a proprietary fintech API solution, which allows instant credit decisions from the leading financial institutions fueling automotive e-commerce. Mujeeb Ijaz (formerly with Apple Special Projects) at Our Next Energy is working to fundamentally reinvent the electric vehicle batteries extending EV range 2x+ while focusing on sustainability, safety, cost and local manufacturing. 

What is your most contrarian view on an existing or emerging technology trend?

Many people would define not being able to raise enough capital as the primary cause of failure. I, on the other hand, believe that more startups fail due to indigestion than starvation, especially in today’s environment, where we have a new unicorn almost daily. One fundamental advantage that a startup has over an incumbent with abundant resources is focus. Businesses can easily lose focus and divert resources unnecessarily. Too much money, unfortunately, can lead to lack of focus, where startups might try to do too many things at once and scale prematurely.  

What advice would you impart to entrepreneurs?

"God is not on the side of big arsenals, but on the side of those who shoot best" - Voltaire

What’s something interesting about yourself that most people may not know?

I was fortunate to grow up trilingual and I lived in 5 different countries, where I picked up two more languages. The experience of living in a different country and trying to pick up a foreign language and starting from scratch gives you a very unique perspective and a sense of empathy. You realize that there is something you can learn from anyone, only if you know what questions to ask, ideally in their own mother tongue!