Investor returns to Kansas City with a message for his fellow VCs: It’s time to get your hands dirty 

Traveling across the United States to listen and learn from various entrepreneurial ecosystems gave Nassir Criss the knowledge to be a better venture capitalist, he said. After nearly a year — and visiting more than a dozen cities — Criss has returned to Kansas City to share and apply what he experienced. 

“I realized that although each ecosystem had different programs and people, there were synergies between them,” said Criss, a senior investment associate at Sixty8 Capital in Kansas City. “They’re all struggling with the same challenges: people are not receiving the right amount of education and access. Ultimately, because of those two things, they are not getting capital for their business to drive and sustain growth.” 

Click here to read more about Nassir Criss and his professional journey.

Since Criss started his nomadic journey in September 2022, he’s traveled to New York City, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Richmond, Charlotte, St. Louis, Indianapolis, Detroit, Louisville, Tulsa, Denver, Cincinnati, Austin, Houston, Phoenix and Los Angeles. 

“My goal was to go to as many burgeoning ecosystems — that have ambitions of being tech hubs or have ambitions of being a city of entrepreneurs — as possible and learn,” Criss said. “I wanted to meet leaders in every place; I wanted to meet movers and shakers in every place. I wanted to meet the best entrepreneurs.”

In each city and each conversation, Criss would ask people what they needed as an entrepreneur, founder or small business owner to be the most successful version of themselves, he said. Criss found that their answers went deeper than strictly obtaining capital. 

“[The United States is] one of the most capital-rich countries in the world,” he said. “The disconnect is not capital not going out. It’s that our people aren’t being educated enough and being put into the right places to get that access. … From my travels, I realized that there are a lot of people working on specific parts of education and access, but it’s disjointed. We’re working on figuring out how we can bring it all together.” 

Nassir Criss, Sixty8 Capital; photo by Channa Steinmetz, Startland News

VCs as operators 

Venture capital firms play a crucial role in connecting the ecosystem, Criss acknowledged, but it’s time for investors to think more as operators. 

“There are VCs who have been business people or startup founders or entrepreneurs in the past; there are also VCs who have never built a business before,” Criss said. “VCs can help by getting our hands dirty and working alongside our portfolio companies and founders. We will better understand the challenges they are going through, and it’ll give us a stronger understanding of where the capital should go. It’ll then increase our chances of return and de-risk the investment.”

When Criss was in his early twenties building a startup, he met Mike Devlin with Touchdown Ventures. Devlin was the first — as well as one of the most impactful — venture capitalists Criss met, he shared. 

“He said the most important thing that investors have to remember to do is actually see it through; we have to be in the trenches with our founders,” Criss recalled. “It’s not just about investing in the business when there’s a ton of optimism and success; it’s about being with them when something breaks at 2 a.m., and they need to call you. The best investors are the people that, operationally, are there to support their companies at their best and at their worst.”

Click here to read Nassir Criss’ piece on how digital nomading made him a better VC.

Coming back to KC

When Criss left Kansas City in 2022 to pursue his travels, he was not sure where he was going to end up. The New Jersey-native knew that he wanted to build in a city that had grit, passion and prioritized innovation, he said. Ultimately Kansas City was the clear place to do so, Criss added.

Nassir Criss, Sixty8 Capital; photo by Channa Steinmetz, Startland News

“This vision of connection needs to have a foundation, and it needs to be propelled by a city that has the appetite, the motivation and ultimately the raw material to create something special,” he said. “… I also built incredible relationships with people, and I have learned so much from mentors and friends here that are doing some awesome stuff. It made sense to come back.”

Along with a vision of connection, Criss wants to see the most people possible, who want to be entrepreneurs, build successful businesses, he shared. 

“If we can figure out that model to scale people and businesses at a higher rate than what we’ve seen in the past, then we will have figured out something pretty cool,” Criss said. “I want to continue to serve Kansas City the right way. I want to take Kansas City to the globe, which means bringing in resources from around the world to Kansas City. People who have built things in different countries, people who have lived all over, how do we get them here? How do we get them to share their experiences as we continue to build this momentum?” 

While Criss was traveling the U.S., he created a database of the community leaders, investors and entrepreneurs he met along the way. Those who are interested in connecting and being a part of the database can sign up here. 

Criss hopes to continue expanding his connections in Kansas City, he added.

“I want to add to the work that’s already been done,” Criss said. “Anything substantial that’s ever been built was built on the shoulders of giants that came before. I want to talk to anyone here that is thinking about what the innovation economy looks like in Kansas City, 20 years from now. 

“I want to talk to people that are looking to allocate capital into not just startup companies, but alternative assets in general,” he continued. “And as always, I want to continue meeting founders because founders are fighting the greatest battle by actually trying to solve problems.”

Click here to connect with Nassir Criss on LinkedIn.