Profile: Tim Schigel
Name: Tim Schigel
Current Job: Founding Partner, Refinery Ventures
Current City: Cincinnati
Hometown: Cleveland
Q: What is it that you do at Refinery Ventures?
We are investing in early stage technology companies, typically post-seed or Series A rounds, which we like to call “Early Scale”. I’ve been in tech venture capital investing since 1998, living and learning from a couple market cycles. Starting during the Dot Com boom and bust was a huge learning experience.
Refinery has now invested in eight companies across the country. Three of the companies are in Ohio, and a fourth has a sales and marketing presence in Cincinnati. We like to lead rounds between $3 million and $5 million, and focus on bringing together the right syndicate partners from the coasts. To date we’ve co-invested with Bain, Norwest, Sierra, Grand Ventures, High Alpha, Dundee, New Stack, M25 and Rise of the Rest.
Refinery was started in late 2017 after I spent four years starting and managing the Cintrifuse Fund of Funds. It was a unique opportunity to help entrepreneurs in the region and build a national network of early stage VCs.
Q: What’s a problem that you are working to solve?
What I learned at Cintrifuse was that there are two major gaps in the Midwest. The first is that startups in the region have a very difficult time attracting capital if they don’t have evidence of significant growth metrics. I call this the First Principle: capital follows growth.
The second gap is experienced hypergrowth talent. How many people do you know that have experienced growing a company from $0 to $10 million in revenue and beyond? You don’t have to be the founder to learn a lot! Refinery is focused on attracting talent, typically the “Boomerangs” who grew up in the area, left to Silicon Valley and gained a ton of hypergrowth experience, and are now ready to apply their experiences in their hometown.
We think there is a strategic advantage to building companies here and we’re looking for other leaders who see that potential. People who consider themselves tech pioneers typically think they need to move to Silicon Valley. The ultimate pioneers were the early astronauts and most of them were from here. We want to find the best and brightest who recognize this opportunity to change the world and have an impact on their own hometown that leaves a legacy that lasts for decades.
Q: What’s a lesson you’ve learned that has helped shaped your work?
Talent is everything. My favorite quote from author Steven Snyder is “all leaders face adversity, and exceptional leaders thrive in it.”
We grow and build character by facing new challenges and learning from them. This applies to individuals as well as organizations. It’s really exciting to watch a team’s confidence grow as they meet and start exceeding their goals. I help all of our companies apply tools like OKRs (Objectives & Key Results). An amazing thing happens when teams wrestle over defining the most important priorities, communicate them transparently and then hold themselves accountable to them. People start achieving goals they never thought possible.
Q: What’s a trend in technology or innovation that you believe doesn’t get enough attention?
The trend in technology that doesn’t get enough attention is that technology is dumbing us down. People desire instant gratification and develop no appreciation for the work, creativity, and impact of the technology they use. We want an EASY BUTTON for everything
There is something called the Flynn Effect which looks at average IQ levels over the past century. Named after the work of intelligence researcher James Flynn – observed rapid rises in average intelligence at a rate of about 3 IQ points per decade in the 20th century, but new research suggests these boom days are long gone. What the results show is that a turning point for the Flynn effect occurred for the post-1975 birth cohorts, equivalent to 7 fewer IQ score points per generation.
Theories on the cause suggests changes in lifestyle could be what's behind these lower IQs, perhaps due to the way children are educated, the way they're brought up, and the things they spend time doing more and less (the types of play they engage in, whether they read books, and so on). Families need to be thoughtful about how their children are using technology.
I believe we’ll start to see more applications of technology to improve human performance. Social media technology and associated Nudge Theory showed us behavior can be modified using gamification. The developers didn’t really appreciate the power they had or the possible negative ramifications. Now that we’ve seen these effects, I think people will start getting smarter about how to apply technology that positively impacts people, and brings out the most creative and human capabilities of our nature. That’s my optimistic view anyway.
Q: What’s a recent book, podcast or news story that you found interesting?
It’s been a few years, but I’m still impacted by Geoffrey West’s “Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies”.
Geoffrey West is a theoretical physicist whose primary interests have been in fundamental questions in physics and biology. West is a Senior Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory and a distinguished professor at the Sante Fe Institute, where he served as the president from 2005-2009. In 2006 he was named to Time’s list of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World.”
Natural laws apply to most, if not everything, we do. It’s fun to look for those natural patterns in daily life or in startups. If you look deep enough, you can find relationships that, once discovered, make intuitive sense. It actually clarifies what at first glance seems to be complexity or chaos.
Q: What's your favorite place in Ohio?
I love where we live and work in Cincinnati. The revival of Over The Rhine is great to see. It’s funky and vibrant. It has a long, rich history and great architecture.
At the end of the day it only takes minutes to commute home to an area with windy roads, horse farms and one of the best green belt areas in the country. We have access to everything we need and can also reset and relax with nature.
Q: What makes Ohio special to you?
Ohio has a rich history and very diverse city centers. The cultural characteristics of each region in the state are unique and have been shaped by different influences.
Cleveland feels more like New York and Cincinnati has a nice touch of Southern charm. Ohio has always had a major influence on the rest of the country. From presidents to innovators like the Crosley brothers and Wright brothers, or pioneers like John Glenn and Neil Armstrong.
I love it because it’s one of the best places to live and raise a family. I’ve had offices in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. We’ve been blessed to have traveled the world and yet our family prefers to call Cincinnati home.