The Super Angel Podcast
00:24:37 · Pranav Sood, Anthony
[00:24:37] S3: I think I've been really lucky. So having been at GoCardless at the time when I was and having benefited from the investors that backed GoCardless and the network that came with that, I was able to get to know a bunch of people in lots of different places. I think, you know, the honest thing is that VCs are often looking for people who can help them to take a position on something. And so, going back to my point around having a view and also having a focus, if you can go to someone and say, hey, look, you're thinking about B2B SaaS and fintech is actually an area that I spend all my professional life thinking about. Let me give you a point of view on something. Let me talk to your portfolio company if it's useful. Let me do something that will be value added to your network. Then you can start to build a relationship which is mutually beneficial. My kind of general philosophy is that you have to give something back to people in order to get something from them, especially when you're early in your angel career. You probably don't have loads and loads of deal flow. Like I would be shocked if I saw more stuff than someone at a top VC fund is already seeing just by virtue of the fact that they've got the brand name and so on. But if you can give them something, then that gives you the basis for a relationship of, if not equality, then at least mutual benefit. [00:26:11] S0: So looking back, if you had to name three core learnings, what would those be? So I think we've
00:26:11 · Anthony, Pranav Sood
[00:26:11] S0: So looking back, if you had to name three core learnings, what would those be? So I think we've [00:26:17] S3: kind of touched on some of them already in the conversation. The first one is you gotta be proactive. Nothing comes to you on its own. You have to be able to go out there, meet people, talk to people, sell yourself in order to get access to the things that you want to get access to. I think the second one, which again, we sort of alluded to is that you want to try and avoid as much as I can investing because of FOMO. And, you know, to the extent you can have a point of view yourself, which is the reason that you're investing and not just because x, y, or zed has decided to invest on its own. And I think maybe the third one is that, you know, the stage that I invest at at pre seed or or at seed, probably the biggest determinant of company success is the founding team or the founder, depending on how many of them there are. And so even if you have a relatively short conversation, you have to spend the time trying to understand as best you can the signal from the founder or founding team on their emotional maturity, on the way that they work together, on the way that they think, you know, on the way that they deal with adversity or or have resilience. And I think when I've made mistakes, it's because I've got overexcited about the intellectual capacity or the idea or the precocity of a particular founder and not spend enough time actually going, well, do they really have what it takes emotionally to be as successful as I'd like them
00:27:36 · Anthony
[00:27:36] S0: to be? So maybe just those three things. I definitely wanna double click on the last one. You know, we also say we invest in founders as a thesis at Queequoa. So what are some of the things that you're not really looking for, right, when you're assessing those teams? And also, conversely, like, what would you say are any no gos or things that you're really kind of alerted when you see?
00:27:54 · Pranav Sood
[00:27:54] S3: The no gos are probably easier. The number one no go is lack of humility. So I think the best founders are unreasonable and very ambitious and also accept that what they're setting out to do defies all probability in almost every way. But they're also generally pretty humble as well. And they have a view of, you know, what they're good at and also where their limitations are. And I think I've got better over time at recognizing some of the cues of humility versus the opposite, which is which is arrogance or or too much pride. The second thing that I always try and, you know, on the opposite, that's something I avoid, something that I look for is I really like to see that people have thought quite carefully about what they know and what they don't know. And so it's impossible when you're building a business to know all the answers to all the potential questions that some random person talking to you for half an hour could ask you about. What I think is a really good signal is a, when they've thought of the question. So you're not asking them something that they've never considered. And b, when they're honest enough to say, actually, you know what? I don't know the answer to that question. Or actually, you know what? I don't think that question is actually that important because here's how I think about the other things that are actually gonna be a bigger driver of my success or failure or our success or failure in this in this enterprise. And so those are probably the two things. Obviously, you look for understanding the sector. Obviously, you look for the right balance of skills across product and go to market and, you know, operations or anything else in the founding team. But really, for me, the two things are how thoughtful are they? How much of a point of view do they have? And then on the opposite side, you know, do they have the humility to mean that they can both be unreasonable, but also humble in in the way
00:29:36 · Anthony, S2
[00:29:36] S0: they go about their business? I mean, we also say we love to see founders that are very much kind of obsessed. Right? So it's like, you know, the won't stop, can't stop mentality, whether it's naturally the problem they've seen or something else. It doesn't need to be that storytelling, but that, like, drive and obsession. When all odds are against you and there's so many reasons why you'll stop that journey, you'll just keep going. Right? And... Because persistence is a very, very good, I guess, predictor of success in some respects in those... In the circumstances. So that's just one to add. But, yeah, thank you for sharing. [00:30:07] S2: I couldn't agree more on that side. And us investing in VCs, it's so fun because we're seeing the same thing. A good VC has the same traits, so it's it's actually quite interesting to see as well. So I have another question, which is you said the part about avoiding investing because of FOMO, and that has definitely been... So you've been through two years of school. Right? For sure. I'd love to hear what tricks you've learned there and and what are you, you know, really keeping your eye out for to avoid investing because of FOMO.
00:30:07 · S2, Pranav Sood
[00:30:07] S2: I couldn't agree more on that side. And us investing in VCs, it's so fun because we're seeing the same thing. A good VC has the same traits, so it's it's actually quite interesting to see as well. So I have another question, which is you said the part about avoiding investing because of FOMO, and that has definitely been... So you've been through two years of school. Right? For sure. I'd love to hear what tricks you've learned there and and what are you, you know, really keeping your eye out for to avoid investing because of FOMO. [00:30:40] S3: There's only one thing, which is you just have to ask yourself, what is your point of view? Why would you do this? I think the acid test for me is, you know, all things being equal, would I refer this deal without the kind of hallmark or stamp of so and so is investing to somebody whose opinion I trust? If the answer to that is yes, then it probably is a deal that you would do, we should do regardless of who else is in there. But if the answer to it is no, if you take away whatever tier one VC has been leading around, and at that point, you couldn't pitch it... I couldn't pitch it to Anthony and say, this [00:31:11] S2: is why I'm investing, then you probably shouldn't be in it. Prada, let's hit the button that signals that we go to our quick fire cycle. Quick fire cycle. Quick fire cycle. First question, what is the most counterintuitive thing you've learned since you started angel investing?