Everything John Fein said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Fein: Pre-seed funding will never be eradicated for non-traditional founders
“I don't think so. I think there's always going to be a place for pre-seed, especially for those founders, maybe first-time founders, maybe founders that are not found in the typical places. I think there is always going to be a place for very early stage round…”
Fein: EQ will separate top VC firms over the next decade
“Totally agree. You know, I think there's a lot to be said for not pretending that you have it all figured out where as an investor, you know your strengths, you know your weaknesses, you know how to say, I don't know, but we're going to get you the answer.”
Fein: Force decisions on fence-sitting LPs because they usually decline
“If they're perpetually on the fence, it's probably going to be a no anyway. And so I would rather just Force the answer.”
Fein: Emerging VCs will not know their true performance for five years
“The feedback loops are very long. You're not going to know how you're doing for at least five years, and you're not going to have someone who's there on a regular basis saying what a great job you're doing”
Fein: The tech boom and inflated startup valuations will inevitably drop
“That trend is not going to last forever. This boom economy is not going to last forever. Everything's cyclical. I've worked through two recessions so far, and you know, it's going to come back down.”
Fein: Early-stage founders should raise 24 months of runway, not 18
“Yeah, I used to suggest 18, and now we say 24, and it's mainly just because of the uncertainty that's out there. With the economy right now, and it's just, you know, better safe than sorry. I think 24 is a safe number”
Fein: Firebrand assumes peak ownership is achieved on the first check
“We assume that we won't be able to. So we assume that the ownership we get with our first check is going to be it, and that the best we're going to be able to do after that is to maintain that ownership over time.”
Fein: Dinner is the most valuable step in evaluating founder trust
“The dinner is the most important part to me because it kind of tends to let the guard down. The founder-investor dynamic tends to fade into the background, and you just get to know each other as people. To me, that's the most valuable part of the process, and …”
Fein: Adding female VCs will increase capital flow to female founders
“And when we get more women on investment teams, more venture capital dollars will flow into female founders.”
Fein: Firebrand Ventures closed its debut venture fund in eight weeks
“And we went to a first close in about eight weeks.”
Fein: The average debut venture capital fund takes 17 months to raise
“I think I'd read something in 2016 that the average amount of time it takes to raise a first fund is 17 months.”
Firebrand Ventures targets seed startups with $5K to $10K monthly revenue
“So where we play is we like to see some early bit of revenue. So we, even if it's five K a month, we like to see some potential early indicator of product market fit. Maybe there's something that could be here. And of course there's a lot more to it than that,…”
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