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Profile: Christopher Baucom |
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| There are three legs that prop up every successful venture, says Christopher Baucom. First, there must be a need for the new product or service; the second is capital, and the third is the people who can execute the plan. It’s that third leg – people – that is the most critical, Baucom has learned. “It’s about the resilience, persistence and creativity of the entrepreneur,” he says. | Baucom’s perspective comes from his experience both as an entrepreneur and as an investor. In the Roaring ‘90s, he launched Copernus, a Cincinnati company that developed a corporate Web space to enable companies to work with outside vendors in a secure environment. Born with $90,000 from friends and family, the company eventually raised $6 million from angel investors over four years.
But Copernus didn’t survive, and there were lessons learned, lessons that Baucom now applies as managing director of Fort Washington Capital Partners, the private equity investment arm of Cincinnati-based Fortune 500 company Western & Southern Financial Group. FW Capital has more than $1.4 billion under management, and is a co-investor in several other funds, including The Ohio Capital Fund, established by the state to help increase private investment in Ohio early-stage companies. Baucom also serves on the investment committee of CincyTech.
Lesson number one? “It’s all about the entrepreneur,” he says. “What gives me the confidence you can pull it off?” There’s no lack of capital for entrepreneurs who have surrounded themselves with good people and know how to execute a good idea in the marketplace, he says. “If you have the right people, raising money won’t be that hard,” he says. As a director of one of the largest private equity funds in the Midwest, he would know. |
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