David Glick of Edge VC
Edge VC
David Glick is in the business of creativity. For him, creativity not only provides strong returns, but is beneficial to society as a whole.
While working as an entertainment and media lawyer, Glick learned how to value and buy and sell intellectual property, typically trading between-15-50 million. He eventually sold the business to law firm Mishcon de Rare and later set up a media business. Couple with close industry acquaintance. The business, which was listed on the London Stock Exchange before it was acquired by DreamWorks, grew rapidly. This is now the DreamWorks Kids section.
“I like that story because I think the main thing you want as an entrepreneur is not to be broken, the second is to quit, and the third thing you want is the ultimate exit to go really well,” Glick said. “When the acquisition succeeds in the long run, it shows that the business you created was really valuable to society.”
She then went into a fashion business partnership, which grew rapidly. That business was Alexander McQueen.
“My partner, Lee McQueen, was really brilliant. He’s a genius. While he’s alive, we set up a charity to help exceptionally talented creators who had no financial means to pursue their creativity.” When McQueen died, it was left to him and McQueen’s dear friend and colleague Trino. They continued to grow the business for more than two years before being acquired by Franোois Henry-Pinalt and his caring group (owners of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and other brands).
Glick’s experience led him to realize that he could make money and manage this revenue generation in companies that would make a positive contribution to society. As an angel investor he went on to invest in the company himself and through a fund on behalf of others. Glick believes that purpose-driven businesses will do much better than just focusing on profit. “Edge VC is a purpose driven business,” he says.
“Creativity enriches human life through its use, not just on the basis of anecdotes, it inspires technological advancement and contributes to the overall well-being of society and its self-esteem,” Glick said. He loves that it is the creator of a great work, which leads him to his second passion: “For me a great thing in life is social mobility. I feel that if you do not have social mobility you will not have a truly civilized society. So in some countries. You get the revolution. I like that the creative economy is creating a fantastic job engine and high quality jobs – jobs with self-esteem, “he added.
“With the growing adoption of AI, creative industry jobs are probably the last base of humanity,” Glick says. “While creativity respects academic and intellectual talent, it also respects talent, hard work, perseverance and determination.” He believes that the creative economy plays an important role in advancing social dynamism by recognizing not only academic success but also talent and perseverance.
The edge is the bridge between the private capital market and the creative world. According to Glick, the creative sector has historically been neglected by the private capital market, and conventional instruments of venture capital have failed to realize their true value.
Glick thinks the creative economy has access to financial problems. Edge focuses on two types of business: those that start to turn a profit, but require £ 1-2 million, and those that require £ 10-20 million to accelerate. He thinks the lazy idea that the creative industry is risky is hurting the economy. “People are beginning to understand this better but are having more difficulty understanding intellectual property than real property.” He believes that the operating system IP needs to be updated and that Europe has more advanced thinking than the United States.
The epidemic has accelerated many changes, Glick said. As a fundraiser and as a business, Edge always seeks to identify trends and technological advances that are going to affect creativity, then find the businesses that will benefit from it.
During the epidemic, an entire segment of digitally literate people developed who would not otherwise have been regularly ‘present’ online. People in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s are now shopping online, gaming online and using tools like Zoom and FaceTime and social media to communicate. These developments were not expected. Technology businesses have always tried to bring their technology to a younger and younger audience, but now a whole new market has been created that no one expected.
When it comes to Edge’s investment strategy, Glick says he “looks for businesses with business groups that can take the business forward, companies that can be segmented-defined with international ambitions. We look for companies that are not only in the UK but also in Europe, the US.” The United States and the world want to be successful. Everything we invest incorporates technology into business models somewhere. We know our sector like no other, and we are very clear about the businesses we want to back up. Let’s make a decision. Our relationship with them and their founders is really important. ”
Glick is ambitious: “I want to build a business that will last. I want it to evolve into something as impressive as Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z, which not only makes money but also gives companies real skills. We’ve already done that, we have a great panel of advisers, but I want to expand and build on that. “
“Personally, I want to help 25-30 stand-out businesses, 5 exceptional category leaders, 10,000 jobs and about 100 entrepreneurial alumni who want to start a new business or become investors themselves because I think it will leave. Creative. A real impression on the world and society, “he said.
“Then,” he joked, “I might even be able to retire!”