Ben Simai’s Post

We review 1,000+ founder pitches every year—and too many make the same avoidable mistakes. Let’s change that. Your pitch deck has just 60 seconds to impress. Here’s how to make every slide count. Tip #1 First came across this tip from the legendary Casey Flint 🔥 Startmate #founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup

Two questions every LP should ask VCs but barely ever do: 1. How do you find and win the best founders before anyone else? 2. If we all appreciate this is in part, a game of luck. How do you increase the chances of luck hitting you? If you don’t have an answer to both, it will be hard. #Founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup

I couldn't agree more; I learned this while making limited partner commitments at KEC Holdings. In fact, on my very first day on the job, Monday, December 1, 2008, my very first assignment was a call with my boss, jeffrey citron, for a possible high 7-figure commitment to an emerging venture manager raising a fund 1. It was my very first assignment, on my very first day at work as an investor. Before that I had been an actuarial analyst, and then a data analyst in HR in the financial services. Over my years at KEC Holdings, and later at KEC Ventures, I learned the lesson Harry is highlighting; Early-stage venture capital is about harnessing uncertainty in order to generate outsized returns, and the best managers have learned how to repeatedly harness luck and systematically manage chaos in their favor. With the exception of Team Risk, this is more important than nearly any other issue an LP could focus on when it comes to assessing emerging managers, particularly those raising their first institutional fund. But, it is also the one most likely to cause the most discomfort because it so ambiguous. Ps: I have the experience to prove it. Basically every fund we backed in that period is now a household name in it's area of specialty. Of course, there are a few we missed, but you can't get them all right all the time.

I have been fortunate enough to invest in 13 unicorn founders and all of them share one common skill. The best CEOs in the world are able to sell via cold email better than anyone else. They can get the time of the busiest people in the world in 4 lines of an email. Din Bisevac did this with Sam Altman. Din will be one of the greats of our time. Watch this space. #founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup

Two questions that I ask every entrepreneur that I meet: 1. How did you first make money? // The best always start early. There is always some flair of entrepreneurialism. 2. How would you describe your sibling? // This says so much about how they view themselves. #Founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup

To become a successful entrepreneur, one must be resilient, coachable, visionary, and more. But what makes a good investor? It's often overlooked how much learning and practice is required to become a successful investor. Those who understand the points made by Harry Stebbings in his three-step programme are on the right track. As a former VC, I can testify that pre-seed investment is the most people-centric business you can experience in any industry. If you have the right founding team with spot-on chemistry, you win - simple as that. I created ETA Technologies to help investors quantify and measure the people element, allowing them to benchmark teams as smoothly as they do EBITDA or ARR. #venturecapital #fundraising #startups

There are three steps to learning to be a great pre-seed investor: 1. It’s all about the founder but market and traction matter. (Year 1-3) 2. Actually, market matters a lot if not more. (Year 3-6) 3. Nothing else matters but the founder. If they are amazing. Write the check and say thank you. (Year 6-9) #Founder #funding #business #investing #vc #venturecapital #entrepreneur #startup

When you run a fund, remember to be a human. The 1-minute deck scan looking for keywords (Stanford, B2B SaaS, ex-Uber) should just be handled by AI at this point, at least it won’t miss stuff. I was so sick of not checking these boxes. But then last year, Gerald Duran gave me brilliant advice: focus on the business, tell your story on LinkedIn, and let investors come to you. You have what real values-aligned investors are looking for, you solve their problem - not the other way around. This strategy is brilliant because it bypasses the checkbox VC approach entirely. When I’ve stuck to this strategy, it’s worked. When I’ve strayed, it’s been a waste of time. People back our mission because they believe in what we stand for, see the problem we’re solving, and want the platform we’re building to happen for their loved ones, and for culture at large. My brilliant friend Sebastian Harris taught me that most people want to invest and shop with their values. Not just watered-down, fake values (like JUUL claiming to end smoking). Real values you’re willing to die for. Values you won’t give up when it hits the fan, and take a big check from Big Tobacco when you “believed” they were the enemy. Don’t be like the checkbox VC. Be like Harry Stebbings. Get to know the founder. Spend less time on checkboxes. Invest with your gut and your values. Invest in people who will use your capital to make the world a better place. — Like this? Follow Nick Rotola on his mission to transition the billion people actively trying to quit social media to a platform that treats them as humans, not users.

Founders are the most important element in any investment decision. As an investor, the quicker you understand this, the more successful you will be. Harry Stebbings' points are a perfect description of this reality, and ETA Technologies couldn't agree more. We exist to help analyze and benchmark the founder element with psychometric assessment powered by AI, enabling investors to identify the highest potential founding teams to invest in. #venturecapital #founderjourney #ai #innovation

Investing in startups is like making a perfect smoothie: 🥤 👩💼 Founder credentials 🌍 Market potential 🛡️ Defensibility of the business model Get the mix right, and you've got a winner! 🏆 #EarlyStageInvestment #Startups #VentureCapital #FounderFocus #MarketPotential #InvestmentStrategy #Innovation #baoconsulting