Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Eric Paley, Managing Partner, Founder Collective (Part 4)

By guest author Irina Patterson Irina: Do you think in terms of the valuation of the company? Eric: We have a zone of valuation we think is appropriate for our thesis of investment as seed investors. If a company reaches a point at which it feels it has accomplished far more than what we call

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Eric Paley, Managing Partner, Founder Collective (Part 3)

By guest author Irina Patterson Irina: How can entrepreneurs who are seeking funding reach you? Eric: I think you have heard this from a lot of people. It is not rocket science: Go on LinkedIn, figure out who knows us, and get them to vouch for you as somebody they know and respect. There are

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Eric Paley, Managing Partner, Founder Collective (Part 2)

By guest author Irina Patterson Eric: We view ourselves as unique for a handful of reasons. We have six out of eight entrepreneurs at the fund who actually run companies day to day. I think that is a really good model in terms of keeping us in our mindset as founders. When most of your

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Manu Kumar, Founder and Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Ravi Bulusu Irina: Do you have any interesting stories? Manu: Sure. I met one founder in December 2008. I had my second and third meetings with him in January. The company had not even have been formed yet. It was only a single person or, rather, the founding team

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Eric Paley, Managing Partner, Founder Collective (Part 1)

By guest author Irina Patterson This is the eighteenth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Eric Paley, managing partner of Founders Collective, a $50 million fund dedicated to investing in seed-stage deals. The fund has offices in New York City and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Irina: Hi, Eric. Let’s start with

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Manu Kumar, Founder And Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Ravi Bulusu Irina: And what character traits in a founder would clinch the deal for you? Manu: I will probably answer that in the negative, meaning I can definitely identify the traits of people who I would not invest in. The number one thing there would be integrity.

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Manu Kumar, Founder and Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Ravi Bulusu Irina: Do you think in terms of valuation when you invest in a company? Manu: Yes, I do look at valuation, and I definitely want to be the first money going into a company. And because the initial investment amount is relatively small, I also want the

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Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Manu Kumar, Founder And Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Ravi Bulusu Irina: How many pitches do you receive every month? Manu: It is something that I want to track, but I have not had the time to do it yet. If I were to guess, I would say somewhere around fifty to sixty a month, and that includes

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