#12: Practical investor provides savvy help for vertical SaaS founders – Dougal Cameron

Dougal Cameron created Golden Section to provide support and practical funding to SaaS founders with deep experience in select vertical markets. Their founder-first approach is different than the traditional VC or private equity investment model which often doesn't work out well for founders in the end. Dougal's family had been investing in software companies for over 20 years through their Houston-based family office. Now Golden Section includes a founders studio for venture development, a world-class software product development service, and optional equity funding for B2B SaaS founders with deep domain experience in their industries. This is an example of one of many possible ways that funding can be practical and helpful for founders who want to accelerate growth but don't want to play the unicorn-hunting grow-or-die game required by most venture capital investors. "Our capital needs to look very different than the traditional venture capital side, where 66% of the time venture-backed founders make nothing when their company sells. And that's companies that get to an exit," says Dougal. "I think that's a horrible statistic that really reveals some of the problems in the venture capital industry. It doesn't make a ton of sense for founders who see a clear problem that they know very well and they know people are going to buy their solution." In this episode, Dougal explains: Why traditional venture capital investment is not a good fit for certain kinds of software businesses The hard lessons he has learned from years of investing in software companies and running software companies himself How they have designed their investment model to support founder-friendly exits where everyone can win: founders, investors, employees, vendors, and customers How they provide deep support for the founders they partner with, including software development services, growth advisory, and execution advice in every aspect of the company What Golden Section does to support the brutally hard emotional journey that all founders go through as they grow their companies Find the show notes for this episode at practicalfounders.com.