Conference Presentation
David Lee at Startup School NY 2014
- David Lee identifies mobile computing, drones, virtual reality, Bitcoin, and bioinformatics as drivers for a superior era of entrepreneurship, asserting there has never been a better time to seek financing.
- SV Angel has reviewed over 6,000 business plans in approximately seven years with David Lee, noting that the majority of these companies will not become unicorns like Pinterest or Dropbox.
- The firm's evaluation criteria prioritize founders over ideas, with investment likelihood increasing if the founder is believed in and the sector is preferred, even though ideas are expected to morph while people remain constant.
- Effective communication of vision is deemed the single most critical skill for founders, relying heavily on nonverbal cues and the ability to process diverse inputs to form a clear direction rather than classical public speaking prowess.
- SV Angel cautions against inflexibility, stating they would not back strong-willed but bad listeners who cannot incorporate feedback, while encouraging founders to focus on value add rather than immediate valuation.
- David Lee predicts an expansion of financing channels over the next year, including AngelList, the Jobs Act, crowdfunding, and Kickstarter, allowing startups to raise funds before approaching larger VCs.
- The speaker notes the high cost of the startup journey, citing a 30-year family history of difficulty, and plans to share specific documents outlining SV Angel's expectations based on his seven years working with Ron Conway, who pioneered angel and seed investing over 20 years.
- The outlook highlights that founders will face numerous choices among investors and mentors, with the most significant value add potentially being deep mentorship rather than just capital, as evidenced by the success of companies like Jason Tan's.
- Although many unknown challenges are anticipated, David Lee expects SV Angel to stand firmly behind founders navigating these difficulties, viewing the current environment as one where more smart people are joining startups than ever before.