It’s been over a year for me now as a first time founder. Within that time frame there’s been countless pivots, two cycles of rejections from incubators, a few dozen no’s from VCs, two new team members, and 1 rebrand (from SUSSIO to tastebase), I think it’s safe to say I’ve come a long way but still have a long way to go.
As I reflect back on this year, I think about all the people I’ve met along the journey. The amazing people who’ve supported us and the ones who haven’t. I’ve been lucky to have advisors, both formal and informal, who’ve helped provide perspective and guidance along the way. But for whatever reason it’s some of the investors I’ve met that’s given me pause. For better or worse. It’s made me think about the spectrum of venture investors across the industry.
From my vantage point over this past year, I’ve had the pleasure (and sometimes displeasure) of meeting investors ranging from top “Tier 1 funds”, new “Tier 2 and 3 funds”, angel investors, and family offices. With each new meeting comes a new dot which I can then begin to draw lines and connect the dots to map the venture landscape (thanks Mark Suster for the inspiration from your article ‘Invest in Lines, Not Dots’).
Across the venture landscape it’s surprising to see how great some of the good investors are and how horrendous some of the bad ones are. In my experience, the best investors look to help founders regardless of any short term transactions. The best investors build long term relationships vs. chase short term transactions. In my mind they’re the ones who have built companies and run through the gauntlet themselves. They’re the ones who know what it’s like to be in the trenches and have so much invested in the startup. They’re the ones who’ve learned to develop founder empathy, something that’s so critical in the founder / investor relationship.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are investors who: have zero credibility investing in early stage startups by virtue of never having built or worked at a startup themselves and/or lack founder empathy. Meeting these ‘bad’ investors is unfortunate and makes me think why they’re even in the industry to begin with.
While I’m sure these bad investors aren’t bad people, my feedback to them is four-fold: 1) go get some first hand experience building a company (nothing beats experience), 2) rather than ask first for something before giving, better to give first before asking for something, 3) build long-term relationships, don’t chase short-term transactions, and 4) lead and invest with empathy.
Amongst the spectrum, there’s the good the bad and everything in between. Along the way of building a company, my hope as a founder is that I can help some be better investors so that they can better help young founders like myself. Let’s see what happens. I’m up for the challenge.
