My investment philosophy is shaped by my own experiences as a founder, particularly with Shogun. I focus on five key pillars when evaluating potential investments:

1. Team

I look for founders who are brilliant and extremely driven. The right team can will huge companies into existence. The founding team should be super technical and ideally have an edge in the space they are attacking.

2. Total Addressable Market (TAM)

The opportunity should be substantial enough to support massive revenue. I’m particularly drawn to startups targeting expansive, seemingly “boring” markets that are dominated by big, inefficient companies. These spaces are ripe for disruption by small, efficient, aggressive teams shipping high quality product.

3. Traction

I highly value evidence of progress and execution. This could be in the form of a working prototype, early user adoption, strategic partnerships, or even compelling customer development insights. But ideally it’s in the form of revenue. Ultimately, I want to see what you’ve done and how quickly you’ve done it.

4. Velocity

I assess not just where a startup is today, but the speed and direction of its progress. Rapid iteration, quick learning cycles, and a clear trajectory towards growth are super important. Where are you going and how quickly are you going there? How can you get there faster?

5. Efficiency

The ideal startup can scale without a huge team. “I love having a big team” said no founder ever. Too many companies have fallen into the trap of raising a lot of money and hiring a huge team as the default path to scale. This isn’t the future in my opinion.

Involvement

Beyond financial investment, I’m committed to mentoring founders through the challenges I’ve faced firsthand. I offer hands-on support in fundraising, strategy, day to day operations, and have been a sounding board to many founders facing the ups and downs of startup life.

Email me at first name last name at gmail dot com.