Valor is fortunate in our years of aspiring to build the lighthouse capital firm in Atlanta at the seed stage, that we have the experience of working together and seeing our values in action. Company core values are tough to define in the beginning, because to some extent, they are expressions of the founder’s personality—but not necessarily the culture that grows around the founder. At this junction, we’re sharing our team’s values with the broader public and hope you agree this is exactly how we behave, and how you can rely on us to behave now and in the future.
Valor’s Core Values
1. LPs first
Some VC firms do not put the investor at the center of every decision. As a fiduciary firm, which not all VCs are, the benefit of our capital partners is our guiding light. Many questions can be answered by first answering, what’s best for our LPs? As we continue to grow, deploy and distribute capital, this is our core.
2. Inclusion enhances performance.
We fundamentally believe that the practices and processes of inclusion create better performance. For us, this is not academic, although there are dozens of rigorous papers that come to the same conclusion. Inclusion minimizes risk, because the practice of inclusion in decision-making surfaces issues that any one point of view may miss. Even more importantly for a venture firm, inclusion enhances and optimizes performance, so we can get back to #1.
3. Teamwork creates leadership.
There’s a saying that you know a leader, because they have followers. Great teamwork is the sign of a true leader at Valor. Whether it’s chipping in after hours, or doing one more calculation to triple check, or giving a founder the grace of one more meeting to make sure we truly do understand, leaning into people is core value. Teamwork with our own team, and with the larger teams in the innovation ecosystem, is a big part of who we are and how we show up—whether it’s on a Zoom call, on a board, or in a syndicate.
4. Courage
Valor is named for courage. We believe it takes courage to invest. It takes courage to build companies. Without courage, there is no new value creation, no new wealth creation, and no innovation. The courage to take the leap in our DNA. We celebrate the Valor in each founder and each investor.