Driving Our Economy Forward: Brickyard
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) — They call it an odd bird in venture capital. Investing in tech companies moving to Chattanooga from all over the world. Tonight, we show you how the Brickyard continues to drive our economy forward every day in the scenic city.
“Brickyard is sort of an odd bird in venture capital. We’re investing in early-stage technology companies. So we’re buying a piece of the company, with cash. And they’re using that cash to grow their company really quickly. So these are high growth companies building, you know, primarily technology businesses,” said Cam Doody, general partner and co-founder of Brickyard.
“We’re investing in these teams, and, these companies are moving to, to Chattanooga, from all over the world. So we’ve we’ve invested in 42 companies to date, since, the middle of 2021, teams come here for, until about a million and run rate or a million in revenue, which usually is, you know, 18 to 24 months is, how long teams are actually spending in Brickyard,” said Doody.
“We’re working with some of the most optimistic people in the world. I mean, they’re starting from nothing. They’re naive in a way, which is kind of a superpower. I mean, they’re trying to to conquer whatever space they’re in there, obsess about their problem they’re only focused on finding a solution to fix it. And it’s just so rewarding to kind of come into work every day and kind of be surrounded by that energy of people thinking they’re going to build the future,” said Matt Patterson, general partner and co-founder of Brickyard.
“I think the biggest impact, at least for me, Brickyard, is it’s like bringing top tier founders from all over the world to Chattanooga. So at least for me, it’s been amazing to be like side by side with people that are also building software or selling, trying to, like, really do the impossible. You’re just kind of in the trenches together, and even though you’re all different companies like, it does feel like a really team atmosphere and you’re kind of just, yeah. Like, there’s motivation. You’re it’s like iron sharpens iron, but then you’re also helping people out of like, oh, how do you do this? How do you do that? How do you sell here? And learning best practices,” said Paddy Macnamara, a general founder at Brickyard.
“I think the co-location has brought the team tighter and helped us to move a lot faster, because when you can communicate just by raising your hand or, calling someone’s name, you can get things done a lot faster because there’s a barrier to communication that exists when you have to reach out actively. Right. It’s one thing for me to send a message, but I have to think about the message. There’s cognitive load. Like, what if I’m here? I can turn to somebody and say, hey, I’ve been thinking about X, Y, and Z or whatever it is, right? I can also like leading the team. I can see where everyone is at in real time. Not just, you know, are they working or not? It’s not really the question. It’s more, do they seem stuck? Are they making progress on those key things? I can actually see them. And I think the atmosphere here, on top of those things being true, also enhances it because you’re surrounded by people doing very interesting things,” said Chiko Chingaya, a general founder at Brickyard.
