What We Learned Backing 45+ Startups
Hard-earned lessons from eight years of early-stage investing across 45+ companies and what actually predicts success.
We have backed companies that became unicorns. We have backed companies that shut down in 18 months. Here is what we learned.
We have backed brilliant ideas with mediocre teams. They failed. We have backed mediocre ideas with brilliant teams. They pivoted into something great.
Great teams find great ideas. Great ideas do not find great teams.
We have backed companies that were too early. They built the right product for the wrong moment. And they died waiting for the world to catch up.
Product-market fit is not a milestone. It is a spectrum. You are always moving toward it or away from it.
Fundraising validates your story. Your momentum. Your potential. But potential is not performance.
Culture is set in the first 20 hires. After that, you are just reinforcing or fighting what already exists.
The companies that survived were not the ones with the best ideas. They were the ones with founders who refused to quit.
Founders who are unreasonably resilient. Markets that are inflecting. Products that people love. Teams that execute fast. Business models that make sense.
