Fast or slow, early or late?
#CapitalAtRisk
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Fast or slow
This week I’ve started working on the IGNITE Investment Readiness Programme for the third time. Funded by the World Bank, the programme is a 13-week, coach-led programme to support Palestinian Startups and help them raise investment. I’m the lead investment coach, it’s really enjoyable work and the calibre of the startups is high.
This week I was having introductory calls with the founders of each startup and I ended by asking the founder to send me their investment deck so I can give some feedback and ask more questions on reflection.
I wanted to tell you about the way two of the founders behaved…
One founder shared their deck immediately — they copied the Google Slides URL and pasted it into the chat before the end of the call.
I am still waiting for the other founder’s deck.
Which one do you think will be more successful?
Early or late
Here’s another signal...
As is my usual, I joined a Google Meet call two minutes before it was scheduled to start. The founder was already there. This is incredibly rare; I can't remember the last time it happened. Usually I’m always alone for 2-5 minutes until the other person comes in. Not this time, and it was a delight1.
Who would you back?
Naturally one signal from one founder doesn’t mean much in isolation, but if you’re going to invest in startups you have to figure out how you’ll capture these signals and you’ll have to develop a sense of intuition over time so you can pick up their patterns — some mean a lot, but only in relation to certain people, others you can discard, but not universally.
However if you had to make a call on investing in the people above, who would you back? The person who sent their deck immediately or the one who still hasn’t? The person who is in a meeting two minutes early or someone else who arrives five minutes late?
Important: None of these posts are investment advice. If you are thinking about investing you should seek the advice of a suitably qualified independent advisor.
#CapitalAtRisk