S2E02: Before Clay Was a Unicorn: The First Check, the Thesis, and the Long Game - Andre Charoo, Maple VC
Canadians have been the lifeblood behind some of the biggest unicorn startups of the past few years (think Open AI, Uber, Slack, Instacart, Notion, Databricks, CloudFlare, Roblox, Ethereum, Moderna Health, and Clay to name a few), and yet no one talks about them, except for Andre Charoo. And he’s not just talking – he’s putting his money behind Canadian founders through his fund, Maple VC.
Andre shares why he thinks Canadian founders are always a strong bet (and bonus points if they’re immigrants, too), what it’s like to wait over 7 years to see a pre-seed investment materialize (in this case, recent unicorn Clay), and how he thinks about moats in the AI age (and why they still matter).
Maple VC writes $500k – $1.5 million industry-agnostic checks into pre-seed and seed stage companies with roots from Canada to Korea to Harvard.
Highlights
- Even long after he left Uber and Hired, Andre never lost his go-to-market spirit and he’s carried it with him as he’s moved from operator to VC.
- Andre’s investing framework can best be described as Canadian roots with global reach. He’s been working hard to give Canadian founders their due and show their world that they are some of the most ambitious people out there.
- Clay, a unicorn in the Maple VC portfolio, is a testament to persistence and patience. Andre urges investors to remember they’re playing the long game – waiting for results that may not materialize for nearly a decade.
- It’s all about building durable companies, and the 7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer still holds true. Andre stresses that defensibility and success come from strategic insight, execution, and taste—not just code.
- While AI is changing the way companies form and scale, Andre still believes in this undefeated combo for founders: inventors, builders, and operators.
- (00:00) - Andre Charoo, Maple VC - Before Clay Was a Unicorn: The First Check, the Thesis, and the Long Game
- (01:40) - Andre’s journey from operator to investor
- (06:56) - Why Andre will always bet on Candian expats
- (22:46) - Andre’s check size and how he manages Maple VC
- (33:38) - The 7-year story of the unicorn, Clay
- (42:14) - Where Andre thinks AI stands and where it might be going
- (49:17) - Moats still matter in the AI era
- (01:03:02) - Andre's take on the inventor-builder-operator trifecta
Creators and Guests
Host
Shaherose Charania
Venture Investing at @CakeVentures and @joindvc | Always helping founders | Raised on Atari, MS-DOS, Bollywood & Hip Hop. 🇨🇦in 🇺🇸
