TSP055 | Nihal Mehta – How To Create Lightning With Your Vision
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Episode Summary
Nihal Mehta is the Founding General Partner at Eniac Ventures. Nihal has founded five startups and invested in over 100 companies since 1999. He is a noted expert in the emerging adoption of mobile technologies and so much more. In this interview, Nihal says he likes to put pressure on the founders to deliver a product. This is a great way to see how the team handles pressure and whether they’re capable of moving quickly in the market. He also says he’s grateful that his first startup ended in bankruptcy and failure, because without those experiences he would not have been able to achieve success.
What Was Covered
- 02:55 – Nihal talks about the ‘A Day in the Life’ video.
- 05:40 – The founding team has to be sales efficient.
- 07:25 – How did Nihal get into investing?
- 09:40 – When coaching new entrepreneurs, Nihal tells them to fail fast.
- 11:15 – Nihal’s first startup failed and he had to declare bankruptcy. He’s glad for that experience.
- 14:15 – Nihal wants entrepreneurs who are passionate about their work and don’t care what they’re currently wearing.
- 15:10 – Show the product to Nihal as quickly as possible. If you can’t do that, it’s a red flag.
- 19:55 – Your mission can be about anything, but you just have to be incredibly passionate about it.
- 21:00 – Nihal wants to know that the entrepreneur has at least thought about the acquisition cost for each customer and their lifetime value.
- 22:55 – Nihal also looks at exit strategy, but he does it a little bit differently.
- 24:30 – How does Nihal like to meet and find new founders?
- 26:20 – What does Nihal like to invest in?
- 27:45 – Nihal comments on how Apple wants more apps and Google wants more people to search the web.
- 29:15 – Nihal recommends four books off his Kindle.
Tweetables
[Tweet “Create lightening and have your team catch it.”]
[Tweet “Be ravenous about your mission.”]
[Tweet “What is your path to profit?”]
[Tweet “Be scrappy and passionate.”]
Links Mentioned
Eniac
A Day In The Life: There’s No ‘White Space’ in Nihal Mehta’s Calendar
Zero To One by Peter Thiel
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
The Everything Store by Brad Stone
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
Nihal Mehta’s Twitter
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TSP054 | Adam Quinton – Pitching To A Top Angel
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Episode Summary
Adam Quinton is the founder of Lucas Point Ventures, an early seed stage investment company. Adam talks about both his investment strategy and philosophy on today’s show. He also shares his thoughts on what makes a successful pitch as well as gives valuable advice on how a founder can prepare for that second meeting.
What Was Covered
- 03:35 – How did Adam get started?
- 05:45 – What are the three things Adam looks for in a pitch?
- 07:45 – Why will your product work now?
- 08:30 – If you haven’t got a co-founder now, find one.
- 08:50 – Multiple co-founders can help with stress.
- 11:45 – Don’t fill your pitch with lots of facts, because ultimately it’s about you.
- 12:30 – Adam doesn’t like video product demos.
- 14:35 – How can you place yourself in front of the right investor?
- 17:25 – Why did Adam invest in Snaps?
- 19:55 – Does Adam like a particular startup genre?
- 21:55 – What’s Adam’s investment philosophy?
- 26:00 – Would Adam invest in the competitor of a company he has already backed?
- 27:45 – Adam shares a pitch he loved back in 2012.
- 29:05 – A husband and wife were the founding team of Rapmedia.
- 31:05 – How does a founder prepare for the second meeting?
- 34:55 – Is it important for founders to have an exit strategy?
- 36:40 – Adam recommends three books.
Tweetables
[Tweet “Pitch Deck is a prop to showcase you.”]
[Tweet “Investors don’t buy the product, they buy equity in company.”]
[Tweet “Angels are in exit business, not investing business.”]
[Tweet “Title: The Three Things an Investor Looks for in a Pitch with Adam Quinton Subtitle: Investors aren’t going to invest in the idea; they’re going to invest in the entrepreneur. Introduction: Adam”]
Links Mentioned
JRobinett
How to Make Your Startup Irresistible to Investors in 5 Easy Steps Webinar
Lucas Point Ventures
Adam Quinton LinkedIn
The Muse
Snaps
Rapmedia
Venture Deals by Brad Feld
What Every Angel Investor Wants You to Know by Brian Cohen
Startupland by Mikkel Svane
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TSP053 | Claudia Iannazzo – How to Charm Investors
Posted by John Livesay in podcast | 0 comments
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Episode Summary
Claudia Iannazzo is the General Partner at Pereg Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm. On average, Claudia hears of approximately 1,500 pitches a year, but only 5 of those actually get funded. Claudia shares her criteria on what she looks for in an entrepreneur, but also reveals an interesting insight. Despite not believing in the entrepreneur at first, she has funded them in the end, because they were able to prove their idea and their worth later down the line.
What Was Covered
- 03:20 – How did Claudia get started?
- 06:50 – If you don’t make it easy, you’ll get excluded.
- 10:50 – What is the difference between working in Australia vs. U.S.?
- 11:00 – When Claudia left Australia, she vowed never to start a company there ever again.
- 13:15 – Is investing in a company like a marriage? Claudia says it can be worse than a marriage.
- 14:50 – When Pereg Ventures invests, they get actively involved with the company.
- 17:55 – How are entrepreneurs opening new doors for their customers?
- 20:55 – A warm introduction is always best, but if you can’t get one, don’t be afraid to try a cold one.
- 21:50 – What makes Claudia want to invest in a particular entrepreneur? What are her criteria?
- 24:15 – Out of 500 companies, Claudia will only like 100 of them. 50 of them are worth a closer look. 10 wil
- 26:30 – By 2017, CMOs will spend more on technology than their CIO counterparts.
- 27:35 – Claudia recommends reading sci-fi books.
Tweetables
[Tweet “If you don’t make it easy to understand, you won’t get funded.”]
[Tweet “Investors want to be charmed by founders.”]
[Tweet “Talk with investors, not to them.”]
[Tweet “Do your customers see the value in what you do?”]
Links Mentioned
JRobinett Website
Pereg Ventures
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