Jeff Clavier

Jeff is the Founder & Managing Partner at Uncork Capital, a seed-stage venture fund with investments in Fitbit, Eventbrite, Fatherly, Poshmark, and Postmates.

On his morning routine.

I wake up at 6:30 and check my weight, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, sleep quality (thanks to Fitbit) and once a week ketone levels. I save this data in the cloud or in a Google Sheet.

Then I move on to checking my email, texts, and the news for 10 or 20 minutes. After this, I let my dog out in the backyard & meditate with Calm for about 16 minutes.

I quickly shower, and though I would usually have breakfast, I started doing a 16-8 intermittent fasting diet where I only drink water until noon.

On the early days of micro VC.

Back in 2004, it was actually a real challenge for entrepreneurs to raise their first round. Capital efficiency and the explosion of the first Internet bubble created a funding gap in the market.

Startups that only needed to raise a few hundred thousand dollars just didn’t really have a place to go.

That became the sweet spot of the early “super angels”, who then raised the initial cohort of micro VC funds — we raised Fund II in 2007. We'll soon celebrate Uncork’s 15th anniversary.

Over the years, we’ve invested in over 200 startups with a lot of successes, while building a strong reputation among founders and co-investors. We’re not afraid to lead, take a board seat & do the hard work required to support an early-stage buildup. 

Critically, we don’t run away when shit hits the fan.

That’s what allows us to be selected by founders to lead or participate in their seed syndicate.

On high potential founders.

Successful founders don’t always have the same traits. Some will be stronger on product, others on business or sector expertise.

All founders we back have a mix of vision, confidence, hustle, and persistence that are required to cope with this life.

The best founders will also be excellent at hiring incredible talent and communicating efficiently. 

On struggling to find balance.

I'm the worst at work-life balance. I work all the time.

I’m lucky that my beloved wife is also a very hard worker, and we manage to do things together for a few hours a week — whether it’s walking the Stanford Dish, playing tennis or skiing in Kirkwood.

We always start our day with a short walk with our dog Kylie before heading out to our respective offices. Unfortunately, the one thing we haven’t managed to preserve is traveling.

We used to visit France every summer to visit our aging parents, but we haven’t had time to travel the world as we did when we were younger. I hope we get back to it at some point.

On disconnecting from work.

I don’t really disconnect. My job is to support my founders.

I have to be there when they need me, though I only take calls between 10 pm and 7 am for true emergencies. 

But when I’m spending time with someone, I really try to focus on the moment and stay away from my phone. 

I also just started meditating, so we’ll see if that helps me disconnect before going to sleep.

On his nightly routine.

I typically go back to work after our family dinner and do a few hours of emails, reading, and writing.

My typical nightly routine is sitting on the couch in the family room, catching up on TV, and working while our dog lays next to me.

I’ll go to bed around midnight, and by then I’m tired enough to fall asleep instantly.