The Anti-Silicon Valley Investor: How to Find Success in Early Stage Startups

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The Anti-Silicon Valley Investor: How to Find Success in Early Stage Startups

David Mandel is an emerging tech Super-Angel Investor and managing partner of Emerging Ventures Capital. He has invested in over 500 startups.

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Podcast: The Anti-Silicon Valley Investor – How to Find Success in Early Stage Startups

David Mandel is an emerging tech Super-Angel Investor and managing partner of Emerging Ventures Capital. He has invested in over 500 startups. Before his current career in venture capital, Mr. Mandel built, operated, and exited 4 different successful businesses in the Insurance and Finance industries over 28 years.

Key Highlights

[00:01 – 11:08] Getting into Early-Stage Tech Investing

David built, operated, and exited four different successful businesses in the insurance and finance industries over 28 years
Exiting his day job to focus on tech investing
The number one mistake angel investors make is investing in businesses not meant to be venture-backed

[15:10 – 29:32] The Anti-Silicon Valley Investor: How to Find Success in Early-Stage Startups

Many early-stage startups fail or become “zombies” after taking angel money
The investment thesis focuses on execution: building, selling, and finding people to pay for the product
David’s advice to founders: build it yourself, find a co-founder, go to an accelerator program
Startups outside of Silicon Valley were struggling to figure out how to raise funding and make the next Southern California has great support for life sciences, social space, e-commerce direct-to-consumer brands, and entertainment

[29:32 – 40:04] VC Sentiment in Tech Investing

Valuations for tech startups have been drastically rising in the past few years
Private markets lag 6-9 months behind public markets in terms of valuation resetting
Good startups are still raising money from existing portfolios, but at lower valuations than a year ago

[40:05 – 41:35] Closing Segment

Additional Links:

Website: https://emerging.vc/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mandel-/?trk=public_profile_browsemap

Brian’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-c-adams/

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