
Ask HN: As a VC, What Are the Top Things You Look For? - jvandebrake
You&#x27;re always being pitched ideas and seeking out &quot;the next big thing.&quot; But how do you differentiate between the products&#x2F;companies&#x2F;founders you invest in versus those you pass on? What are the top qualities or characteristics you look for?
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kalpisidia
This might be a little controversial.

I believe it's best not to invest just in a specific company or product, but
in the founder.

Sometimes, the right person might have the wrong idea; and you might still
fund it, just so that founder can get their feet wet and have more experience
when they start working on their next idea, where you get first dibs because
you funded them before.

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blueboo
Is that a not-just-but, or a not-just-but-also? The former sounds like
patronage based on gut feeling, and would explain why you seem fund so many
fellow Stanford grads (say). The latter seems so obvious as to barely merit
statement. So...

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heavenlyblue
This is why they gave so much money to Elizabeth Holmes.

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rdlecler1
Working backwards, exceptional outcomes tend to come from exceptional founders
and often you see that exceptionalism in their professional or academic
accomplishments. Sometimes this is evident from meeting the founders, and
often their academic or professional is not sufficient but VCs simply have no
interest in backing mediocre founders because the founding team is part of
your moat. Since this has basically become a rule in the market VCs take on
great financial risk by ignoring this. Lot’s of teams are simply not
investable. It may be harsh, but the outcome distribution is so skewed toward
failure and the magnitude of the home runs that this is the only sensible
strategy for someone who wants to stay in business as a VC.

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mguerville
Disclaimer: no longer a VC, and even then I was a CVC so strategic fit was #1.

Early stage companies: I looked for resourcefulness in the founder and a broad
but intelligent perspective on the market combined with humility/coachability.

B and up: traction and systemic approach to scaling.

