Mike Soutar, a media entrepreneur and angel investor, discusses his approach to angel investing and what he looks for in founders and startups. He emphasizes the importance of learning new things and being attracted to ideas that make sense. Soutar is comfortable investing in sectors he may not know well, as long as he can understand the problem the startup is solving and the market opportunity. He values founder market fit and looks for founders who have an unconventional viewpoint and can think insurgently. Soutar prefers to invest in the pre-seed stage and enjoys being involved right from the start, working closely with founders to help them raise money and grow their businesses. He believes that investors back people first and ideas second. Soutar looks for founders who can clearly articulate why their solution is different and better, and who can demonstrate customer demand and willingness to pay. He also values clarity, consistency, and discipline in founders, and believes that founders should have a clear understanding of their competitors and be able to recognize and respect them. Soutar advises founders to be cautious about expanding operations abroad and to consider testing new ideas or adjacencies in their existing market before going international. He also shares insights on failures and the importance of raising enough capital and building in contingency. Soutar discusses the changing landscape of media businesses and the challenges and opportunities presented by social media and user-generated content. He believes that while there may still be a space for curated content, consumers now prefer to control their own journey and decide what they want to consume. Soutar sees opportunities in using high-quality original content to engage audiences, but believes that monetization models need to evolve beyond traditional advertising or paid content.
Keywords
angel investing, startup, founder market fit, pre-seed, customer demand, willingness to pay, competitors, expansion, media business, social media, user-generated content, go-to-market strategy
Takeaways
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Background
00:40 Investment Approach and Agnosticism
01:52 Comfort with Unknown Sectors and Technologies
03:45 Founder Market Fit and Insider Perspective
04:46 Investing in the Pre-Seed Stage
06:20 Finding and Assessing Founders
08:52 Understanding Competitors and Being Respectful
09:49 Investing in Early Stage and Willingness to Pay
11:53 Traits of Successful Founders
15:10 Being Cautious about Expansion
16:40 Lessons from Failures and Importance of Capital
17:09 Expanding Operations Abroad
19:24 Common Threads in Failures
21:00 Traction Takes Longer and Importance of Raising Enough Capital
23:12 The Changing Landscape of Media Businesses
26:29 Opportunities in the Era of Social Media
29:11 Key Elements of a Perfect Deck
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