Finding the Seed Investor for your Startup with with Jonathan Wu and Jim Connor

Game Changers Silicon Valley

The startup ecosystem continues to create new products and services that contribute to our productivity and quality of life. The participating parties including research and intellectual property from universities, programs for entrepreneurs, technologists and an established set of service providers from startup accelerators to a range of outsourcing services for everything a startup company needs to grow efficiently.

A key driver to allow these components to produce results is the startup investor class and within that class, the provider of seed capital. The first outside capital contribution is incredibly important giving the startup validation and working capital to continue their mission. Today, we see a range of seed capital providers from the angel investor community and specific seed funds from the venture capital community.

Finding the Right Seed Investor

As an entrepreneur, if you have a lineage coming from several years at a brand name IPO, or you are part of the founder team with a track record of successful exits, then you have the basis to shop your company’s financing needs to venture capital funds and angel investor groups.

If you are first time entrepreneurs with no track record in the startup world, then you are likely to find the most receptive investor audience within the angel investor community.

The angel investor community is not a single type of investor. There are unique aspects and preference to each angel investor and angel investor group.

The podcast is about the mind and heart of the angel investor as Jonathan Wu, Vice President of the Sand Hill Angels, sits down to give us his perspective on seed funding, how entrepreneurs gain traction with angel investors, and avoidable mistakes entrepreneurs make. Jonathan also provides insight into the type of mentorship an angel investor can make including his own experiences in helping startup companies to accelerate their growth.