Distance Traveled
I have years of learning ahead of me when it comes to the practice of early-stage venture investing. That being said, having spent the last two years solely focused on building and investing in early-stage companies, many of which are currently doing millions in annual revenue or have gone on to raise follow-on funding from the likes of Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, YC, SV Angel and many other top tier firms and individuals, I feel as though I can confidently say that distance traveled matters and pattern recognition is a trap. Optimizing for a specific founder profile, background, educational institution, age, etc… is a sure way to miss out on potentially great opportunities. Phin Barnes, Partner at First Round summed this up nicely on a 20VC episode.
Pattern recognition is another name for intellectual laziness. Startups are about things that have never existed before. When you pattern match it stops you from investing in the future.
- Phin Barnes
One person’s lived experiences and life challenges may look very different from another's. It’s important to keep in mind an individual's resilience and personal distance traveled. Not all paths to a destination are equal in distance. I thought I’d highlight the profiles of a few founders and individuals I know that showcase there is no one size fits all model to being an entrepreneur.
Jijo, Aleesha & Joseph (Founders of BuyMeACoffee)
I was fortunate to meet the founders of BuyMeACoffee, Jijo, Aleesha, and Joseph in late 2018. It was clear from the moment I spoke with Jijo they were true builders. Jijo, Aleesha, and Joseph have been building software products since they were teens having transitioned from Kerala India to the UK before eventually founding BuyMeACoffee and settling into San Francisco. They built the platform to ~35,000 creators before raising from outside investors. I cannot think of a better example of innate builders and creative product minds. BuyMeACoffee is now loved and utilized by over 130,000 creators, backed by some incredible individuals and institutions, and is still just getting started.
Holly (Physician & Entrepreneur)
From the outside looking in Holly’s path would appear pretty typical. She grew up in Richmond Virginia, attended college, graduated from medical school, and pursued her post-doctoral training at Stanford before beginning what would be over a forty-year career practicing dermatology. What few who know her or meet her realize is Holly grew up in Richmond Virginia in the 1950s and 60s during the Jim Crow era where blatant racism and segregation were very much alive. As a child, she was called the N-word and verbally threatened. Local ballet classes, extracurricular activities, elementary schools, and many restaurants and retail outlets were segregated. As an example of the literal distance she had to travel due to the injustices existing in the South at the time, she traveled four hours round trip to Washington DC for years to attend ballet classes that were segregated in Richmond. Despite this Holly went on to graduate from medical school and pursue her post-doc training at Stanford where she heard the N-word used by a staff physician, was ignored when reporting the behavior to the department head and was sexually harassed by the same racist staff physician. Note this was in the 1980s, not a lifetime ago. Nonetheless, she successfully completed her training and went on to become a successful and patient-driven physician, eventually founding two practices. Holly, in many ways, epitomizes resilience and to this day chooses to be thankful for the opportunities she had rather than carrying bitterness regarding her experiences growing up. I’m fortunate to call her my mom.
Justin & Timo (Founders of Avenify)
Justin and Timo both attended the University of Oklahoma before building Avenify. Prior to Avenify, Justin had left OU early to pursue a career in tech. He had taught himself to code from an early age and hustled his way into jobs at Mozzila, Product Hunt and Republic, eventually leading content marketing at Republic before leaving to co-found Avenify. Timo graduated from OU with honors and went straight into founding and building fairer, more accessible financing at Avenify. In the early days, Justin and Timo raised very little funding and spent multiple months driving around the country in an RV to visit various schools and do early customer and concept validation. They’ve since raised capital from a roster of incredible individuals and are on track to originate millions in student funding. Avenify wasn’t born out of traditional Silicon Valley networks or institutions, but their journey is one worth following.
Moises (Co-founder of Yummie Creative)
Moises might be in his early twenties but he’s an absolute powerhouse of an entrepreneur and creator. Moises grew up in Wilmington Delaware and turned down college acceptance offers to pursue a career in videography, eventually co-founding his own production company, Yummie Creative. He has produced content for national brands like Target, Barclays, and Maestro’s Classic, and last year he won an Emmy for one of his videos. His path is far from traditional but that’s what makes him special. He’s a nonconformist in the best sense of the word and his future as an entrepreneur is incredibly bright. I’m fortunate to call Moises a friend and look forward to following his journey.
All of the above individuals showed an extreme level of resilience at some point in their lives. Persistence and resilience seem to define the most successful of individuals, but it’s important to understand everyone’s lived experiences will be different and not everyone starts from the same starting line. IMHO, as an early-stage investor, it’s just as important to understand where someone started as it is to know where they are right now. It’s easy to write off someone’s capability without understanding the full picture. Brilliant people come from many diverse backgrounds and places. If you limit yourself to only engaging with individuals with a specific profile, remember you just might be precluding yourself from finding the next big thing.
Cheers,
John
