My entire career as an Angel Investor started because I overheard a conversation at a house party in Miami…
I actually wasn’t even supposed to be there.
It was 2014 and I was in town to meet with a potential investor for the PropTech company I was building at the time.
I learned last minute that a buddy of mine was hosting a party and he invited me to join after learning that I was in town.
At the party, I accidentally overheard a group of strangers talking about this new toothbrush subscription company that was about to launch. My ears immediately perked up.
Just a few years prior, I had been an early customer of Dollar Shave Club. I had followed along as the company exploded in popularity and it had become clear that:
1. There was a massive demand for premium, high-design everyday essentials
2. Subscription-based consumer businesses could offer affordable prices while still generating impressive margins
For several minutes, I drilled the group with questions about quip., the product, the potential business model and its team. Finally, I asked for an introduction to the founders.
I was four years into my own startup journey at the time, but I saw what could be an incredible investing opportunity.
Sure enough, I returned to NYC and, a few weeks later, I met with Simon Enever and Bill May. Our first meeting was so inspiring!
In front of me were these two guys with a business plan, a great vision, and the technical expertise to make it happen.
I knew I had to find a way to get involved.
So, I offered them my expertise, my network of angel investors, and my help. I promoted their business constantly. I made as many introductions as I could muster. I even hosted several “focus groups” as an excuse to bring a bunch of angel investors into one room to listen to quip’s pitch.
Eventually, I was able to scrape together $10K (a substantial amount of money for me at the time) to make an investment of my own in the company. I invited my friends, other founders, and VCs to invest alongside me.
Ultimately, this evangelism led to a total of over $1M raised in those early days at quip.
By the time the round finally closed, I was hooked. I began spending nights and weekends doing work to support my first and only portfolio company. I badly wanted these two founders to be successful.
From that very first conversation in Miami, it became so clear to me.
I wanted to become an Angel Investor.
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