The only thing I know for certain about early-stage companies is that there will be uncertainty. Even the best opportunities often twist, turn and pivot thousands of times before they produce a return for their investors.
As an angel and the Chief Investment Officer at MergeLane, I focus most of my angel investing diligence on the team. I look for founders that are tenacious enough to break through walls and clever enough to figure out how to go around them.
When I meet with entrepreneurs, I rarely ask conventional questions. Sure, I look at the pro forma, review their business model, check out the competitive landscape, etc., but I typically send those types of questions by email.
When I talk with them, I want to learn how they think and what makes them tick. These are my favorite questions to that end:
I tried for many years to maintain a jam-packed schedule with zero margin for error, but life never seems to fit into perfectly scheduled boxes. After a straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back moment, I’m learning to live off of the brink of disaster.
Read more ➞I've spent more time than necessary on our fund administration and reporting, in part because of some of the easily avoidable administrative mistakes I’ve made over my 10-year journey as a startup investor.
Read more ➞Over these past two months and throughout all of 2020, I've learned something that I want to record to make sure that I remember: My anxiety about the potential outcomes is almost always worse than the actual outcome.
Read more ➞In this second episode of a new series to feature startups sourced from our Fund81 VC forum members’ portfolios, I interviewed Alaffia Technology Solutions nominated by the Hustle Fund.
Read more ➞