As my portfolio of angel investments grows I’m always thinking of ways I can help them out more. So I’ve decided to run a little experiment using this blog, by creating a very simple job board for my portfolio. Here are a list of jobs at companies I’ve invested in: http://www.instigatorblog.com/jobs/ There’s only 5 jobs […]
Connecting Founders
With nine portfolio companies (and one fund), I’ve got about 15 founders that I’ve invested in. And while a few of them know each other already, most don’t. It strikes me as odd how little founders are connected through their investors (and by extension, how little the investors in a company are connected, particularly at […]
The First 10 Questions I Ask Entrepreneurs When Investing
I’ve been angel investing for about a year now, and I’ve made a total of 10 investments (2 in the last month). I don’t think I’ll keep up that pace, but it’s been a lot of fun. One of the things I need to get better at is having a systematized approach to the first […]
Advising vs. Investing
Occasionally, I get asked to serve as an advisor to a startup founder. In the past I genuinely enjoyed the role and tried very hard to help wherever I could. Official advisors usually get compensated in the form of options (or equity), typically between 0.25%-1%. So there’s always the possibility that your effort, as an […]
The Hardest “No” in Angel Investing
Investors say “no” a lot. Actually…a lot of investors provide confusing euphemisms for “no”, giving the impression that there may someday still be a chance of raising money from them. For entrepreneurs, it might feel a bit better emotionally than outright rejection, but ultimately it’s frustrating as hell. I know what it feels like. I’ve […]
My First 9 Months as an Angel Investor
As a founding partner of Year One Labs (an early stage accelerator), which operated actively in 2010-2011, I participated in 5 very early stage investments. But that wasn’t angel investing (although it had some similarities). Nine months ago I made my first independent angel investment. I’ve made 7 in total. They include: anonymous company (can’t […]
Do Investors Invest in Ideas, People or Markets?
Investors often say that they invest in people first, then the market and lastly, the idea. I’d say that’s generally true, but it’s also very difficult not to triage and make judgement calls in reverse. When an investor asks for a pitch, they don’t say, “Tell me why you’ve got what it takes to be […]
Founder DNA – How Investors Evaluate Startup Founders
Are entrepreneurs born or taught? I’d say a bit of both. Environmental and genetic influences are so intertwined for most things (diseases, our health, intelligence, etc.) there’s no simple answer. Having said that, when we talk about founders and startups we often think of it as something intrinsic to the people, something inside them, built […]
Founding Partner at 