Dan Martell - January 19, 2015


Angel Investors： My Strategy For Angel Investing


Episode Stats

Length

5 minutes

Words per Minute

201.51816

Word Count

1,115

Sentence Count

63


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 Angel investing. How do I decide and what makes it work? You know, I've always found this word
00:00:04.980 angel investing such a funny word. It's almost like a religious being. By all means, I'm no
00:00:10.920 different than a banker when it comes down to investing in other people's companies or parting
00:00:15.640 ways with my money. But there's three things that I figured I'd shoot a quick video on to explain to
00:00:21.000 people what are those three criterias that I use for myself, hopefully to inspire other angel
00:00:25.800 investors to get involved in really amazing entrepreneurs. Now I don't know if you know my
00:00:30.180 story, but I grew up in a pretty challenging environment. I got in a lot of trouble as a kid
00:00:34.600 and I met people, you know, throughout that, you know, my teenage years that really showed me the
00:00:39.860 way, that set me on a different path, that really kind of believed in me. And those people, you know,
00:00:45.800 I wouldn't even be in business if it wasn't for them. I mean, most people would have thought I'd
00:00:48.620 either end up dead in a ditch, locked up in jail for the rest of my life, or found in a loony bin.
00:00:53.760 And so, you know, I really feel blessed and amazed with all the success I've had in business.
00:00:57.780 You know, I've started five companies, even though the first two are complete failures.
00:01:01.240 You know, I've gone on to raise money twice now.
00:01:03.420 I've built and sold three companies.
00:01:05.160 And, you know, I say that not to brag, but really just to let you know that no matter where you're at,
00:01:10.900 if you're just starting as an investor or you're trying to raise money as an entrepreneur, I've been there.
00:01:15.780 You know, I've had those self-doubt feelings, and I kind of surrounded myself with amazing people that helped me get through it.
00:01:21.840 So the three things that I look for to invest in an entrepreneur, number one, would I want to spend time with them?
00:01:28.500 Do I like them?
00:01:29.560 Would I want to go and sit down and have a drink?
00:01:31.600 I can't tell you how many times I meet entrepreneurs and they're super aggressive in their approach or they come off as a bit little too cocky.
00:01:38.360 Hey, look, I totally get cocky.
00:01:40.400 I mean, come on, let's be honest here.
00:01:42.520 But it's just they don't realize that it's first about building a relationship with somebody, getting to know somebody,
00:01:48.720 not about getting right into the pitch.
00:01:51.920 I mean, just ask me a question.
00:01:53.800 Talk to me about my experience.
00:01:55.120 I don't know.
00:01:55.660 I just feel like it's, you know,
00:01:57.140 one time I heard it's all about no like, trust, buy.
00:02:01.260 And to me, investing is no different.
00:02:03.460 Like, I need to know, like, and trust you first
00:02:05.820 before I'm even gonna consider parting with my money.
00:02:09.200 So that's number one.
00:02:10.420 Do I like you?
00:02:11.680 Do you inspire me?
00:02:12.920 Have you taught me things?
00:02:14.400 Because for me, you know, investing is very personal.
00:02:17.300 I don't do it for the financial rewards, even though I've been fortunate to have some success in investing.
00:02:23.040 I really do it because I look at it as a way for me to learn, to be around people that inspire me.
00:02:27.700 So that's number one, do I like them?
00:02:29.420 The second criteria is, do I feel like I could be of value to them, right?
00:02:35.780 It's not about just investing.
00:02:38.100 It's can I create value for them outside of the money?
00:02:41.880 Is their industry something that I know how to do?
00:02:44.940 Is there people or contacts that I feel, if I made introductions, would be super valuable for them?
00:02:49.360 That's really important to me, is can I create value for that entrepreneur?
00:02:53.720 Can I be helpful over an extended period of time?
00:02:56.140 Is it something I know about?
00:02:57.960 And the third, and for me, honestly, one of the most important things is, am I a customer?
00:03:03.040 Do I understand the problem?
00:03:04.740 Have I felt this problem?
00:03:06.180 Because for me, if I've never felt the problem, then I'm not emotionally connected to the solution.
00:03:11.440 I'm not emotionally connected to the startup.
00:03:12.980 You know, so if you come to me with a biomedical or some financial algorithm or whatnot, there's a high likelihood that I wouldn't even be able to help because I don't understand it.
00:03:23.140 I wouldn't be a customer of the product.
00:03:25.140 And it's no knock in the opportunity and the amazingness of your team.
00:03:29.120 It's just me and who I am as an investor.
00:03:31.060 I really need to feel like it's something where I could be a customer.
00:03:34.960 I felt the problem.
00:03:35.940 I mean, that's the way I invest.
00:03:37.200 I go on AngelList and TechCrunch.
00:03:39.440 Anytime I have a problem, maybe it's I'm working on a marketing thing and I feel like there should be a tool that exists.
00:03:44.760 I'll go Google it.
00:03:45.540 I'll go search it.
00:03:46.220 I'll go on AngelList and search and see if there's a company trying to solve this problem.
00:03:49.580 And it's actually through that process that I discover a lot of opportunities.
00:03:53.600 You know, recently I was talking to a friend and he was cold emailing investors, like reaching out directly.
00:03:58.980 And I thought that's kind of the most ridiculous.
00:04:01.580 It's not the way I raise money.
00:04:02.940 You know, I did a webinar recently on fundraising like a pro.
00:04:05.520 Now, and in it, I say that, you know, investors don't want to meet you, or they don't want to meet you, they want to be introduced to you.
00:04:12.300 Now, if you dissect that sentence, it's don't cold email somebody, but actually try to find somebody they know, like, and trust and get that introduction.
00:04:19.940 You know, and for me, I suggest that people go after the entrepreneurs.
00:04:22.760 Anyways, this is really about my criteria, Angel Invest.
00:04:25.500 I wanted to put that out there to the world so that if anybody's thinking of reaching out to me, they understand the context of what I like.
00:04:32.000 And if they're thinking of investing, maybe they might find value in those beliefs and principles and use those as filters to find great investments.
00:04:40.400 Because again, it comes down to people that I would want to spend time with.
00:04:43.780 They inspire me.
00:04:44.440 They teach me things.
00:04:45.700 I feel like I would be a customer of the product, that I felt the problem and I love the solution.
00:04:50.560 And third, I can be helpful to them in moving and growing their business going forward.
00:04:55.200 So I want to challenge you to stack your business for growth and live an extraordinary life.
00:05:00.560 Have an amazing day.
00:05:02.000 Thank you.