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I have ~$300K I need to invest in the next year or two, in 5 deals or more. I was an Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at Foundation CapitalāāāFWIW, those folks are top tier; they love the work and respect entrepreneursāāāand they made me a scout. Iām talking with some other firms about doing the same thing for them, so hopefully that number gets bigger over time. This is a big opportunity and privilege, and I appreciate it.
I need your help to decide where to put this money. Iāve never been an angel investor before, so Iām trying to figure itĀ out.
How I canĀ help
Iām a second time founder (sold Reveal to Napster; now building Decent) and my non-founder background is in growth (I led the first growth team at Gusto and have scaled multiple products to millions of users, mostly through referrals, which I wrote about here). Iām in the crypto space now with Decent and learning fast, as an advisor to TrustToken, Refereum, and WorkCoin.
Iāve had enough different investors to know what I like. Iāll be available for you as a resource but not hovering over your shoulder. I have a great network and will work hard to get you to folks I know who can help you succeed. Philosophically, I understand the role of luck, donāt mistake money for wisdom or worth, and wonāt guilt trip you for hard choices you have to make as an entrepreneur, expect fast responses to my questions when youāre working, or pretend to know your business as well as you do. Iāll get back to you quickly when you ping me and introduce you to other investors you should know. Iām a solid listener and am happy to buy drinks and hear how things are going with zero expectations, including when everything is going to shit (which happens in every company Iāve seen, regardless of final outcome). I can balance the probabilistic knowledge that most startups fail with total confidence that yours is going to find a way to win. I love strong teams and care more about people than money. Iāll be bluntāāāincluding about what I donāt understand or donāt likeāāāand wonāt waste yourĀ time.
What I want fromĀ you
- I want a working product or prototype I can play withāāāIām not smart enough to predict the value of a business based on the ideaĀ alone.
- I wonāt fund single foundersāāāthis stuff is too hard to do alone, and if you canāt convince someone else to join you full time, focus onĀ that.
- I think the āwhyā behind your company is incredibly important. If you canāt explain why you care deeply about your mission, Iām not interested.
- I get to keep the carry on my investments, which 1) is awesome and 2) means I donāt make any money from being a scout unless your business does. Iām only interested in funding businesses that I can imagine reaching valuations of $1B orĀ more.
- Foundation made me a scout because they think I can help them find good deals theyāll want to put more money into the future. So if youāre not willing to give angel investors pro rata rights (the right to invest more later to maintain ownership %) itās not aĀ fit.
- Iād prefer to fund diverse teams. If everyone on your team is a straight white male, be ready to tell me how youāre going to fixĀ it.
- I donāt have time to respond to cold emails. If we donāt know each other already, get a warm intro from someone we both know, the warmer the better. If youāre not sure what common friends we have, find me on Facebook or LinkedIn orĀ Twitter.
If youāre an entrepreneur or investor and youāve got something awesome I should look at, please ping me at nick@decent.com. If you know someone who might, please share thisĀ post.
Thanks,
Nick
Please ask me for money. was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
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