Levin: True first checks usually come from friends, family, or angels
Ron Levin · Why the Co-Founder Who Stayed CEO Was the Right Call · Mar 17, 2026 · at 8:05
Ron Levin, partner at Alumni Ventures, addresses venture capital myths around which investors actually take the initial risk in a startup.
0:00 / 0:12exact quote · 12.7s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“The truth is that, you know, the first check in are usually the friends and family or the angel investors that are willing to take a bet because they know the founder personally. And, you know, those are the really the high risk investors that are willing to go all in.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Ron Levin
Levin: U.S. immigration and tariff barriers will benefit overseas startups
“To the extent that immigration policies are changing, tariff policies, a lot of things that are kind of becoming barriers for innovation in the U.S., in my opinion, are going to help overseas startups as well”
Levin: More people are cut out to be investors than entrepreneurs
“And I think they're probably in all honesty, more people that are cut out to be investors than there are entrepreneurs”
Levin: Leading VCs create great companies rather than just picking them
“Some of those investors are not just great pickers. They have the ability to create great companies. Because they put their full weight behind them.”
Levin: VC herd behavior carries valuable signal, not just noise
“I would not discount the fact that there is a race among VCs to know who is investing in what, because there's a lot of signals and not just noise in that.”
Levin: Early-stage startups paying fundraising intermediaries is a negative signal
“Well, as an investor, certainly at the very early stages to me, it's somewhat of a negative signal. If I see that they've hired and are actually paying, whether it's an investment bank or you know, usually these are more boutique type of operations.”
Levin: VCs Brag About Deck Volume to Signal Selectivity to LPs
“Well, I think they're trying to, in many ways, show their for one, show their LPs that they're being selective. And secondly, I mean, it's also true. I know as an investor, I get loads of inbound and we get so many decks from linked over LinkedIn, over email. …”