investor

“Don't ask the investors for references to founders. Go to their portfolio list on their website and find a company that's no longer in existence. And reach out to that founder on LinkedIn. A founder of a failed company is going to give you a lot more informati…”

“If you, as an investor, expect every founder you meet to be in a position to drop everything and just work on their startup for some arbitrary period of time, as a show of commitment, you're gonna end up excluding people who, for really valid financial reasons…”

“So it's again, like, learning how to actually answer an investor. Like, when he asks you for something, you give the answer, and then you explain, versus you explain, and then you lose the answer.”

“Investors aren't just looking for good companies that make good things. They're looking for the next massive hit. And while Petit Poe is a perfectly good business, a really good business that's already profitable and could be in Walmart stores everywhere befor…”

“True innovation, you know, I say this all the time, and I think Steve Jobs helped sort of raise the awareness to this but true innovation never tests well. Consumers can only tell you what they know, not what they don't know, and I think investors are the same…”

“I think like getting a founder that makes you believe, and then there are like some proof points and it feels like just the next change is the one that's going to make it. So like, if you can get an investor to believe in that, like that this next thing is the…”

“It's like one of the things that we look for as investors is a grittiness and a willingness to learn because you will not have all the answers. Therefore, what happens when you get it wrong? Can you quickly get back on your feet? That's what we care about more…”

“And I think in times like this, it's very easy to get attached To what you were doing before, but I don't think investors give you credit for persisting with something that probably won't become a big idea.”

“To be quite frank, I don't think there are many investors who are even, you know, spending a lot of time investing in new companies to begin with.”

“As soon as you use the word pivot, it's like, A record stopping. It's like, you know, nails on a chalkboard, because a lot of companies have not done very well with pivots.”

“Being honest, they don't give a about my personality, about who I am, they give a about my numbers. And whether I'm a good investment at the end of the day.”

“You know, I've had investors tell me you never want to build a company for investors. That's bullshit. Investors are going to invest in what they like. And if they're the only ones that can provide you access to capital, then you have no choice. Otherwise your…”

“I have a big belief that a good cold email, proof of being the type of entrepreneur who has developed something and even without funding, you know, has started to build a business goes a long way in the mind of an investor.”

“Anybody who tells you, oh yeah, we're in, if you have other investors, just, I would actually be very wary. It does not mean that they're in.”

“The investors on our show fly to whatever city we're recording in on their own dime, and they spend two to three full days recording new pitches with us. People are often surprised to hear this, but the investors on our show are not paid actors.”

“My rule of thumb is don't let anybody be an advisor who can otherwise be an investor.”

“You can coach people on presentation, on answering questions, I think it's hard to coach people on, like, the thing they want to build.”