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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 so many inbounds calls that it becomes hard to figure out what is and isn’t credible. We are really people driven, so just seeing an interesting plan by itself without having some notion of who that person is does not motivate us.

To us, the best way to come in the door is through someone we know and respect who will actually say, “This is someone I know, and I think he or she is terrific.” Because LinkedIn is such a phenomenal tool, it is not that hard to figure out who knows us. >>>

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 partners are actually running companies every day, it is hard to deviate from your roots.

That’s the theory of why we’ve gotten into this. It has been pretty exciting. >>>

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 with one person leading. I told them in January, “I know that your round is going to be oversubscribed. So, here is my check.” He said, “Manu, I can’t take your check right now because we don’t even have a company set up yet.” >>>

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 your background.

Eric: I am a two-time entrepreneur. My most recent company was founded when I was in business school and was called Brontes Technologies. It developed 3-D intra-oral imaging technology for use in dentistry. >>>

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 valuation to be relatively low so that there is a meaningful participation in and stake in that company. So, I do look at valuation as part of the investment process. >>>

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 presentations at events, pitches that come in directly over e-mail, and those that come through referrals.

Irina: Out of all of those pitches, how many deserve a closer look?

Manu: I would say probably about five or ten a month deserve a deeper look or at least a first or a second meeting. If I look at my statistics from last year, I looked at almost 500 ideas and ended up doing five investments last year. >>>

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Manu Kumar, Founder And Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Ravi Bulusu

This is the seventeenth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Manu Kumar, the founder and chief firestarter at K9 Ventures, an early-stage venture fund that provides funding and support for concept-stage and seed-stage technology companies. It is based in Palo Alto, California.

Irina: Hi, Manu. Let’s start with your background.

Manu: I am an entrepreneur turned investor. I started my entrepreneurial career in the late 1990s while I was a grad student at Carnegie Mellon. I started my first company in 1996. That company was doing Web-based customer service. We built that company and sold it in 2000 to Epiphany. >>>