1/ do lots of deals 2/ do pre-seed Two different points. They do early stage. You can only do so many deals, especially if you are ‘active’ investor. I know partners there that have done so in a region. I’ve met the founder recipients at the parties. You just don’t know it. There aren’t that many pre-seed or even seed …
How can I get seed funding without giving away the idea?
The pitch You: Hey give me $500k. VC: For what? You: I can’t tell you… VC: Sure, I’ve never heard of you, so of course! What’s your IBAN? 6 months later… VC: Btw, what do you do? You: Nothing. I just live on your money The lesson Many people complained they had the same idea as Uber. The only difference …
What is the most unreasonable funding request you have ever received as an angel investor?
I was doing a talk at a startup event in Kuala Lumpur. This weird engineering type approached me after. “Hi Sir, Alex. I want to copy Facebook” “Ok. Like, what niche are you targeting?” We were walking down a corridor, leaving the room. I was a little distracted. “I want to copy Facebook” “But, there is already a Facebook, so …
How did Tinder grow so quickly? How did they seed the initial application?
Firstly, it is a great product designed just for smartphones and with strong social integration, need FB to use. Extremely simple to use too, “Stupid simple”. You get immediate utility as soon as you use it and has “infinite swipe” like Pinterest (in popular cities). A factor of smart phone use is short session times. You can log in for …
What do investors understand that many startup founders don’t?
Market size wins: If the market isn’t huge now or at the point of inflexion, whatever you do doesn’t matter Team matters: Most people are average. Generally, only exceptional founders, who know hiring (Think Jobs) to make the company smarter is the key to success. 70% of an investment decision is the team. And frankly, I think wannabe angel investors …