Mac Conwell

“He didn't know how to sell it. He didn't know who he's selling it to. And having been doing this for a year and a half, that's a problem.”

“Pending that Delaware C-Corp, because you're not a Delaware C-Corp, like, I'm not, like I do North America, South America, the UK, and even then that's time tough. So if you're a Delaware C-Corp, I'm in, dollar amount, I'll match her. I'll match Elizabeth. I'l…”

“Well, we'd love to take max 50,000. I mean, the Pitch Fund would love to invest in your company.”

“I'm in for 50 K.”

“So right now it's like on average where we charge them 90 K annual contract.”

“That is a bit pricey for me.”

“And so I can imagine if I'm working with a program that helps me build my credit, there's gonna be some brand loyalties.”

“I'm really interested. I can't get over that hump just yet.”

“I love founders who are building in the space that they have deep knowledge in, who aren't the technologists, but who are the true operators and understand it.”

“Generally, I'm not excited with the event space. It can be a very hard space.”

“Full disclosure, at Rare Breed, we have a no vice clause. So I'm not allowed to invest in anything involved with alcohol.”

“So I, I'd be excited for Rare Breed to participate at minimum 50, maybe more, you know, going over due diligence and timing, but we got this.”

“People tend to over index on the bombastic founder and less on the more measured. And sometimes the more measured founder is the one who's going to be the better operator.”

“We have seen massive companies build, come out of labs, start in government, and then over time transition, and the technologies that come from government are usually very transformative and usually really big companies.”

“If it wasn't for the fact that I was an investor in Early Bird, oh, I'd be really interested right now.”

“The state of Maryland does the deal. The company starts growing, moves to Colorado. When they moved to Colorado, the state of Maryland asked for their money back. With just the interest. So no real upside. And four years after that, so I guess two years ago, t…”

“So one for one, my next three all went to zero within six months.”

“I have a policy where I have to talk to my founders first and see if there's a conflict, so I'm going to say no for now, but I'm going to introduce you to the founder, and if he says there's not, we could have another follow-up conversation.”

“We have three companies in our portfolio that started off with an apparel product, but that was never the business. And the apparel product did well enough that they got the traction where the big business came.”

“The reason is the D to C side is just the marketing. So if you get rid of the DTC brand, you've now taken away your largest marketing tool for the industry.”

“But this gets you to ten million. This gets you to twenty-five million. This doesn't get you to a billion.”

“I have several companies in my portfolio. They're not competitors today, but could be on their roadmap. So like, I have a thing where I always ask my founders if this is competitive. If they say no, it's cool with me.”

“This is going to be a race to the bottom. The way you win is you become the market leader and become the market leader now. You better raise a ton of money, put that stuff in the marketing, and be the only name that people think about, because there are other …”

“Yeah, I hate to be the killjoy of the year, but literally a year from now, somebody wanted to recreate podcast AI, they'll probably be able to do it as a weekend project.”

“Product-led growth isn't going to win in this space.”

“For products like this one, we haven't seen the exit values for these type of companies, right? They're not getting, not enough of them are getting to that, that billion dollar level, right?”

“I think we got like, 10 or 15 years before people start the backlash.”

“So a nine, a 19 post It's not the end of the world. It's below 25. Still in range. I'm in for a hundred.”

“Well, 10% of the fund is for off-thesis investment, so if it's too high, I'll put it in the off-thesis bucket.”

“You know, what happened was we have done a call and he said, basically, you know, rounds too expensive. We're not going to be able to get that ownership stake that we try and target. So it's not going to be a fit.”

“So yes, we, we've spent a couple minutes telling you how much we think this is incredible, and what you could do with it, so I'm in I'm gonna say I'm in for 50 K, I want to be in for a lot more if I could, I would tell you I'd give you the whole 500, but I can…”

“Figuring out how to grow is a problem money solves. A lot of founders we see have other problems that money doesn't solve that we're trying to get to. When you got a founder where their only problem is I need money to solve this problem. That is something that…”

“Due to My faith and the way I've looked at, like, faith-based investments, I've stayed away from it. Just, that's a thing. It's a no for me, because, like, I tend to stay away from the space.”

“I'm like, ok, I don't have a college degree, I don't have a finance background, but I know startups, and I know a lot of people in Baltimore,”

“I basically Got burnt out. Told my investors, hey, thanks, but no thanks. Here's what little money we have left. You can all have it back.”

“My first close was at 10%.”

“No, I gave my LPs three options. You can do a hundred percent upfront, 50% each year over two years or 33%. Over each year, over three years, with the minimum being 10 K per year.”

“So I have no GP commit. I didn't have the money for it.”

“I wasn't even an accredited investor when I started raising my fund, right?”

“He's never charged me. He's been my lawyer for over a year. He's never sent me a bill.”