TSP031 | Mike Edelhart – Hunting beyond the Unicorn
Posted by John Livesay in podcast | 0 comments
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Episode Summary
Mike Edelhart is the lead partner for the Social Starts moment-of-inception investment fund and CEO of the Tomorrow Project.
Key Takeaways
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- 02:30 – How did Mike become an angel investor?
- 07:40 – The team is incredibly important. This can not be emphasized enough.
- 10:00 – Mike believes a good team understands clearly what the company’s mission is.
- 11:46 – Great teams follow their leader with discipline, but not with rigidity.
- 13:25 – Becoming a unicorn is an outcome, not a cause.
- 14:40 – Having the desire to become an entrepreneur isn’t normal.
- 17:00 – Leaders who believe in themselves, their team, and can remain calm when everything goes wrong instills confidence in their team.
- 18:20 – How did Pinterest get started?
- 24:55 – Why did Mike and his team invest in Pinterest in the beginning?
- 27:45 – Entrepreneurs make the common mistake in thinking all investors are the same and they don’t do their homework.
- 30:00 – Mike talks about the rabbit archetype in business.
- 30:50 – Mike breaks down the tortoise archetype.
- 32:45 – What’s the idea behind the bear archetype?
- 36:15 – The final power animal in business is the hawk. Mike explains further.
- 40:00 – Mike recommends the book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds
Tweetables
[Tweet “Entrepreneurship is a socially accepted form of mania”]
[Tweet “What you think is true will probably not turn out to be true”]
[Tweet “Clarity is key trait to get funding”]
[Tweet “Be obsessive about your customers”]
Links Mentioned
SocialStarts – The Venture Bestiary: Hunting Beyond The Unicorn
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds by Charle Mackay
SocialStarts
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TSP030 | Michael Walsh – Slack for Senior Care
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Episode Summary
Michael Walsh is the co-founder of Cariloop and runs the Health 2.0 Dallas chapter. Cariloop is a program that allows people to help manage their older loved ones’ healthcare and needs from start to finish. Michael has raised $500,000 in funding during his first seed round and has some valuable insights to share on what truly makes a successful pitch.
Key Takeaways
- 01:40 – Who is Michael?
- 04:45 – Why was Cariloop founded?
- 10:15 – How/why did Michael pick his accelerator?
- 12:10 – The knowledge and the contacts Michael made at the accelerator were priceless.
- 16:05 – How can entrepreneurs figure out how much their company is worth?
- 20:25 – How has Michael spent the $500k he’s raised?
- 23:10 – How does Michael handle the competitor question with investors?
- 25:45 – Michael believes telling stories is better than pitching.
- 28:00 – Michael recommends the book Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh.
Tweetables
[Tweet “A pitch should be a story that you tell investors.”]
[Tweet “What are pain points of your customer that you solve?”]
[Tweet “When you give a customers control during chaos they buy.”]
Links Mentioned
Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
Michael Walsh LinkedIn
Michael Walsh Twitter
Cariloop Website
Cariloop Twitter
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TSP029 | Ben Narasin – VC Secrets To Pitching
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Episode Summary
Ben Narasin is the General Partner for Canvas Venture Fund. He has 25 years experience has an entrepreneur and started the company Fashionmall.com, one of the first e-commerce sites in 1993. Ben tells the audience that he likes to look for tenacity in an entrepreneur and breaks down what he likes to see in pitch slides. Ben also gives a deep dive into what kind of financial ranges you can expect to find in a pre-seed, seed, and series A round.
Key Takeaways
- 02:00 – Ben started his first company when he was 12. He shares a bit of his background.
- 03:50 – What makes a winning pitch in Ben’s eyes?
- 07:25 – Remember, your pitch is the table of contents.
- 07:40 – Ben breaks down in what order he usually likes to see pitch slides.
- 09:40 – What does Ben look for in an entrepreneur? Tenacity.
- 12:40 – You have to say no to the hundred million exit offers if you want to build a billion dollar company.
- 13:35 – Ben talks Fido Labs.
- 18:35 – There’s nothing worse than being right at the wrong time. Get in early, but not too early.
- 21:50 – Ben is always looking for the next big shift/idea.
- 25:50 – How much is pre-seed, seed, and series A investing usually?
- 29:20 – Money as a sole-driving force just doesn’t cut it.
- 30:55 – Ben recommends a couple of books.
- 32:45 – The dollars that come with your successful are just a natural consequence.
Tweetables
[Tweet “The pitch deck is the table of contents in a navigational way.”]
[Tweet “It’s hot for someone else, it’s cold for you.”]
[Tweet “I need five things to make an investment, people, people, people, the great idea, and a huge market if it works.”]
[Tweet “Tenacity is the key trait in a founder.”]
[Tweet “Nothing worse than the right idea at the wrong time.”]
[Tweet “Team, idea and huge market all needed.”]
Links Mentioned
Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
Road Less Traveled by Scott Peck
Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ben Narasin Twitter
Folloze
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