Picking Investors You Won't Regret
An investor is a 7, 10 year relationship that's harder to exit than a marriage. Diligence them as hard as they diligence you.
#fundraising
What actually matters
- How they behave when their portfolio companies are struggling , call founders who failed, not just the ones who exited.
- Speed and clarity of decisions , do they get to a yes or no in days, or string you along for weeks?
- Do they add real value (intros, hires, customer conversations) or just collect updates?
- Are the terms clean , no unusual control rights, board control, or anti-founder protective provisions?
Red flags worth walking away over
- Pressure to close before you've talked to other founders in their portfolio.
- Demands for board control at seed or Series A.
- Onerous liquidation preferences (anything above 1x non-participating).
- An investor who criticizes other founders to you , they will do it about you too.
Money is a commodity at most stages. The cheap way to find out who an investor really is, is to call the founders they backed who didn't make it.