Tag: Investing
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Here’s how my latest deal came together: 431 companies, 74 meetings, 1 check. Raising money is brutally competitive. Here’s how to win… A Look Inside My Deal Funnel I wired for a new investment on June 29th. To find it, I looked at over 400 companies and did 74 Zoom…
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“Get back to us when you have more traction.” Bet you’ve heard that before! But what the heck is “traction,” anyway? Traction is evidence your company is succeeding. Traction comes in many forms. Some types of evidence are more persuasive than others. Here are 6 common types of traction, from…
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+ Business, Entrepreneurship, Founders, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Technology, VC, Venture Capital+
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Some founders raise millions with a single text. You’re struggling to get one check. The reason? It comes down to traction or track record… Track Record We’ve all heard crazy stories of founders raising millions in a weekend without even a deck. Behind those headlines, you’ll usually find a founder…
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I want to meet as many awesome founders as I can. So I’m automating the busywork. Here are the automations I’ve got running my investment business… Summarizing Decks I built a great little tool in Grok Projects to summarize decks in the exact format I like: Instead of paging through…
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+ AI, Angel Investing, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Entrepreneur, Finance, Grok, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Technology, VC, Venture Capital, Writing+
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YC S26 kicked off last week. 56 startups have already launched. Here are my top 3 so far, from robot maids to cheaper healthcare… Prescience Just this morning, my Christian health share emailed me. My discount for staying fit? Gone. Traditional insurance is even worse. Premiums through the roof, no…
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+ AI, Artificial Intelligence, Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, SF, Silicon Valley, Startups, Tech, Technology, Venture Capital, Y Combinator, YC+
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An amazing founder DM’ed me last week. I knew this deal wouldn’t last. Here’s the exact timeline — from cold X message to wire transfer in just five days… Tracking a Recent Investment, Minute by Minute Tuesday, June 23: 1:42pm: Cold X message received 4:49pm: I reply and ask for…
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+ Angel, Angel Investing, Business, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Fundraising, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startup, Startups, Tech, VC, Venture Capital+
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We all love to whine about YC valuations. But lately, YC has quietly become one of the best deals for investors… Getting More for Your Money When I was meeting YC companies 2-3 years ago, this is what the best ones looked like: Here’s what I’m seeing now in the…
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+ Business+ Angel Investing, Business, Finance, Founders, Fundraising, Investing, Personal finance, San Francisco, SF, Silicon Valley, Startups, Tech, Venture Capital, Y Combinator, YC+
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I just missed out on $157,000. Last year, I passed on a startup that is now raising at 25x the valuation. Here’s how I blew this deal, and what I’ll be doing differently next time… Why I Passed We’ll call this startup Supercorp. In April 2025, I had an opportunity…
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+ Angel, Angel Investing, Business, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Investing, Personal finance, Startups, Stocks, VC, Venture Capital+
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Yesterday, a founder nailed a cold message in just 38 words. I put him on my calendar first thing the next morning. Here’s why short messages win… Investor Time Is Very Limited You only have 60 seconds to make an impression. Investors, big or small, get tons of inbound. I…
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Friction is killing your fundraise. Here’s how to remove it and close out your round, fast… Take the example of an awesome founder I spoke with recently. “An investor told me to require an e-mail address to see the deck,” he said. “What do you think?” “Don’t require anything. Remove…
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+ Business, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Fundraising, Investing, Silicon Valley, Startups, Technology, VC, Venture Capital+
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Tremendous 