Andrew brings a rare lens to early-stage investing. Eight years defusing bombs for the Navy, a stint at Stanford, and time embedded as interim chief of staff at a portfolio company gave him both operational instincts and a deep respect for founders who can lead under pressure. His litmus test during pitch calls is simple: "Do I want to go work for this person?" He's not looking for the most technically dense presentation. He's looking for a compelling human being who can attract exceptional people and tell a story worth following. For founders who tend to lead with jargon or stats, that's an important recalibration.
The most tactical segment is a fundraising strategy Andrew picked up from a founder in the Stardex accelerator. Before formally raising, you build a list of target firms, start coffee chats, and end every conversation with: "I'm not raising right now, but when I do, do you want me to call you?" Then you score each firm's enthusiasm as a percentage, multiply it by their average check size, and keep going until the total hits 300% of your target raise. Only then do you formally kick off, starting with your highest-conviction contacts. It's a framework that turns relationship-building into a measurable, repeatable system, and the founder who used it raised from multiple tier-one firms without ever sending a pitch deck.
Andrew also delivers a sharp warning about the post-raise mindset. He sees too many founders close a round and then freeze, clinging to a scarcity mentality instead of deploying capital to hire the best people, engage top-tier PR, and accelerate growth. At the same time, he flags the opposite trap: lying about commitments to manufacture urgency. VCs talk to each other constantly, and claiming you have a verbal offer that doesn't exist is what Andrew calls the number one sure way to kill a deal. The through-line across the whole conversation is that early-stage fundraising is fundamentally a people game: build real relationships, tell an honest and compelling story, and don't try to shortcut trust.
