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A year ago today, ashton kutcher posted a blog on the website of Atrium, a company he funded, outlining his investment strategy and why he likes startups.
Iâm proactively funding brilliant people trying to solve hard problems.
Ashton Kutcher: How (and why) I Invest In Startups - Atrium Blog
Actor and producer Kutcher, a Hollywood darling, has become a savvy tech investor. In 2010, he created a venture fund, A-Grade Investments, with long-time friends Guy Oseary and Ron Burkle âto opportunistically invest in technology start-up companies,â as their LinkedIn page mentions. Among his investments, some of todayâs largest startups and scale-ups, including Spotify, Airbnb, Uber, Square, Nextdoor, Houzz.
âBut that was mostly seen as a hobby for the two [Kutcher and Oseary],â Techcrunch reported in 2015, when, during SXSW, Kutcher launched his new fund, Sound Ventures, âa more formalized fund with some big backers ⊠to invest other peopleâs money.â
Some of the most recent investments made by Sound include Atrium, calm.com, scooter startup Bird, and neo-unicorn Casper.
At Techcrunch Disrupt SF, Kutcher and Soundâs chief operating officer Effie Epstein discussed not only their investment strategy, but also the geography of investing in tech today, outside of the usual suspects, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York.
Epstein mentioned Boston, Austin, Denver, Miami, Nashville. She added: âSeattle has always been in the background; Iâm kind of surprised that we havenât seen more out of Seattle.â
âThe democratization of a lot of baseline software tools is actually allowing companies to start to spread up in other places,â said Kutcher. âMost likely, the next greatest companies in the world are going to be the companies where the most talented people want to work atâ and that doesnât necessarily mean San Francisco or New York. âWeâve started to see companies in other markets,â he said, pointing out that cities with lower cost of living helped startups âattract talent at similar to lower prices,â with a boost to diversity in their workforce.
Back to Kutcherâs investment strategy, on his post on Atrium he mentions: âI donât have a magic formula, but there are four important factors that must all check out for me to invest in a founder.â
Here they are:
- Domain ExpertiseâââThe best founders have some unique insight in the domain where theyâre building a company that gives them some edge. I often find that itâs one of three factors: a) Deeper understanding of consumer behavior; b) Historical Insight; and c)Â Data.
- GritâââFounders need some capacity of perseverance through really, really tough situations.
- PurposeâââIs whatever theyâre building someway connected to a greater purpose in which theyâre personally invested? Whatever theyâre building has some resonance relative to who they are, how they are, and what they believeâââbecause belief systems donât go away when you get into trouble or come across a difficult challenge.
- CharismaâââThereâs a level of charisma that many great founders have, especially if they want to be the CEO of their company.
He also talks about founders heâs wary about:
- Display questionable principlesâââIâm a very principle driven person. I have certain litmuses around gender equality, racial equality, and working with good humans. I only want to work with founders and invest in companies that share my principles.
- Lack domain expertiseâââIf the person doesnât know their numbers itâs an immediate killer.
- Lack of respect for timeâââThe biggest factor people often forget when theyâre busy trying to sell what theyâre doing is a basic, human understanding of other people.
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Calling all CEO's. Look at you calendar for the next week. Is it gender neutral? Is it diverse? Fix it! It's your calendar!
âââ@aplusk
Women and diversity seems to be another important factor when it comes to investing in new ventures, as he highlighted at Techcrunch last year. Kutcherâs advice for startups is:
- Hire more women
- Get busy making sure that thereâs equal pay within organizations
- Think about gender parity and diversity from day one and continue to tell stories about the extraordinary women in history and in your startup.
Something interesting about Kutcher is also the way he interacts with companies he has invested in.
Yesterday for example, he was at Nextdoor headquarters in San Francisco to discuss âthe power of local community, civic engagement, and his experience as a neighborhood leadâ with Nextdoor co-founder Prakash Janakiraman and new chief executive officer and chief neighbor Sarah Friar.
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Great to see one of our early investors @aplusk at @Nextdoor HQ today. Thoughtful discussion on the power of local community, civic engagement, and his experience as a neighborhood lead. And more... đ
âââ@prak
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Really great hearing from one of our investors (and someone you all probably know đ) about how @Nextdoor can help boost #LocalBusinesses, support #CivicEngagement & continue to improve as we work to build #Community in neighborhoods across the globe đ! Thanks again @aplusk!
âââ@Bobakkabob37
In January, Kutcher sat down with CNBC together with WeWork founder and chief executive officer Adam Neumann to talk about their partnership for WeWorkâs Creator Awardsâââa major global initiative that recognizes and rewards innovation across all industries by funding entrepreneurs, small businesses, growing companies, nonprofits, performing artists and more.
Watch CNBC's full interview with Ashton Kutcher and WeWork CEO Adam Neumann
âI saw this as the perfect combination of the entertainment world, the technology world, and the investment world coming together,â Kutcher explained about why he joined the Creator Awards. âThrough the technology that this company has [WeWork] it has a greater capacity ⊠to bring people together and close that divide between the haves and have-nots.â
On the sidelines of the Creator Awards finals in Los Angeles in January, Kutcher said: âI am in awe of the intelligence and creativity of the entrepreneurs competing in this yearâs WeWork Creator Global Finals.â
âFrom health care to the environment to humanitarian issues such as hunger and homelessness, these creators are tackling it all. They all give us hope for a better world,â said Kutcher, who has previously served as a judge at Creator Awards in Nashville and London.
âWeWorkâs commitment to harnessing the vision of these entrepreneurs through the Creator Global Finals is something that deeply resonates with me,â added the actor and investor. âI could not be more motivated by the dedication, drive, and innovation of the finalists.â
Ashton Kutcher, from Hollywood to superstar tech investor 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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