The Education of a Startup Investor

The Education of a Startup Investor

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The Education of a Startup Investor
The Education of a Startup Investor
3/52: Think

3/52: Think

#CapitalAtRisk

Jan 21, 2024
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The Education of a Startup Investor
The Education of a Startup Investor
3/52: Think
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Above: Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques by Michael Michalko

The 2010s was the decade of the Entrepreneur. The 2020s will be the decade of the Investor.

“The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it.”

Terry Pratchett

Short shrift

A few years ago I was pitching a deal I liked to an investor I was working with. I really liked the founder and the company. As ever, I’d known the founder for many years. I thought the company was going places and there was a huge opportunity that they could clean up in.

Added to that a Tier1 VC from Silicon Valley was interested. I thought, and the founder thought, this was a big deal. I’ll not name the firm here, but Tier1s VCs are the likes of A16Z, Sequoia, Accel, Kleiner Perkins, Benchmark. The backers of Apple, Google, Uber, Facebook, Airbnb, Stripe…. The OGs, as they say. You get the picture.

Anyway, I was pretty excited so I told the investor. I must have mentioned it to him three or four times in just a few minutes on our call. It seemed like he hadn’t heard or didn’t know how exciting this could be — I mean, blimey, a Tier1 — I was thinking: we’d be co-investors, get to know them, maybe visit their offices next time I’m in SF…

There was a pause. Then he said:

“Matthew. I do not need external validation”

Oof. Conversation over.

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