Pitch deck feedback

Founders, your first draft pitch deck might not be so good. It can be hard to see the big picture when you're deep in the details.

Ask people in your 'startup family' for honest feedback. Be open to that feedback.

Rewrite. Repeat.

Target returns

I am laser-focused on doing everything I can to generate the best returns.

I don't have a target return, I am aiming for as high as possible.

Valuations matter

I have to think hard about the valuations I invest at. They matter. If every investment was at double the valuation, my returns would halve.

Occasionally, there is an investment where I would be happy to pay double the valuation. If I could only invest in these, I would. Then my returns would double.

A ranking game

Investing is partly a ranking game.

You see a lot of opportunities. You can't dig into many of them in depth because of how many you see and the other calls on your time. You need to choose the top 5, for example, opportunities to invest in each year.

How do you optimise your process to spend the right time on the right opportunities?

A risk reward game

Startup valuation is a dark art. Even if you see hundreds or thousands of startups a year it's still hard.

As an investor, you are playing a trade-off between risk and reward.

All other things being equal, what multiple could this business reach if it achieves its maximum outcome? Given the founders, the plan, the competition and the trajectory, how likely is it to move fast in that direction?

Put those things together and you may not have a specific valuation but you will have a way to compare different startups of different valuations.

Founder Mental Health Pledge

I have signed the Founder Mental Health Pledge. This is a subject I care about a lot and is one of the reasons I invested in Monika Holod's OMA Mind.

Also very happy to see OMA Mind is one of the mental health resources they include.

Investors, click here to take the pledge.

Blending boundaries in the Guernsey Press

Blending boundaries - AI's role in redefining leadership and management - in yesterday's Guernsey Press.

Mica Vaipan's RunYourself is at the forefront of this by helping transform managers into highly skilled coaches.

What motivates me

I am motivated by supporting my family, the challenge of building an investment business, and to sail past a couple of people from my past in a bigger boat.

How about you?

My one non-negotiable

My one non-negotiable for a London trip - a Tongue & Brisket chopped liver sandwich.

How to find angel investors

Founders often ask where to find angel investors. Start with senior people in your industry.

They will understand the big problem you are solving. You will get helpful feedback even if they don't invest. They will make useful industry introductions even if they don't invest.

Repeat.

Then, industry angels show people outside your industry that you are solving a real problem.

Best of luck!

AI-generated disruption is good

People are worried about AI-generated disruption. If the world changes that fast, what will it mean for jobs?

You only get disruption if the goods and services that do the disrupting are much better than what they disrupt. Otherwise, how can it happen?

Then, even if employment looks very different, it will only be because the world looks much better afterwards.

There will be winners and losers. But disruption happens precisely when the overall outcomes are way better than a zero-sum game.

Founder strength vs investment process

Every investor says they overweight on founder strength. Every investor spends 90% of their process on the business. Every investment memo is 90% business.

What do you think actually happens?

PoC advice

Founders, if you are doing a PoC, remember these three things:

1. Make sure you get regular feedback, not just at the end.

2. Get paid. Some companies run lots of PoCs. You need to know that they care. You need to be able to demonstrate to investors that they care. If they don't care, you may be wasting your time.

3. Define upfront what success looks like. What will it need for them to roll this out nationally or globally. This will tell you exactly what problem they think you can solve. It's not always what you think it is. You can take this insight into other sales pitches. What do you do to make sure a PoC is successful?

Blending boundaries - AI's role in redefining leadership and management

Includes a callout for Mica Vaipan's RunYourself which helps turn managers into highly-skilled coaches.

This is my latest article for Business Brief. Thank you Amanda (Mandy) Eulenkamp.

Adapting to AI changing the world

AI is changing the world. It's clearer than ever that the world will be different in five to ten years and less clear exactly what it will look like.

How are you adapting to this?

The best research assistant in the world

ChatGPT (the paid one) is the best research assistant in the world.

People complain it gets things wrong. If you had a human research assistant, would you take their word for everything or would you ask follow-up questions if you weren't 100% sure?

That's what I do. Don't assume it's always right, ask the right questions, and you have the best research assistant in the world for $20 a month.

I was not paid to write this post.

Thank you, Gabriel

🎥 Gabriel Isserlis of Tutti (visit www.tutti.space) gave me some insanely insightful feedback this weekend.

Gabriel, you couldn't have been more helpful.

Thank you.

Not where you expect

The best investments are rarely where you expect to find them. They sound bad until you hear them in the founder's words.

Before, "No way."

After, I'm desperate to hear more.

15-30 Seconds

Founders, people say an investor will look at your pitch deck for an average of 3 minutes. It's much worse than that.

The average includes some who spend a lot of time. Most will take a glance and move on.

You have 15-30 seconds to get an investor's attention. Then they decide if they want to spend more time on you.

It may not be fair. It is the reality.

Wrong is right

If you don't think you can be wrong, you'll never learn.