Gaurav Jain is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Afore Capital.
Afore is a $300M fund to support product-oriented founders at the very earliest stage (pre-seed). Their sweet spot is the $1-3M round, where they can lead the pre-seed round as an institutional investor alongside high-value angels. They look for companies that are product-led and are built by founders with non-obvious insights and infectious ambitions
Takeaways
- Gaurav's journey as an immigrant.
- The co-op program at Waterloo was pivotal in shaping his career.
- Founding Polar Mobile provided his first exposure to venture capital.
- Afore Capital was created to address the gap in pre-seed funding.
- Key traits of successful founders.
- Investing in founders is more about the team than the idea.
- Afore's investment process.
- The importance of AI and future of investing.
Chapters
00:00 Foundational Journey: From Immigrant to Investor
04:12 The Birth of Afore Capital: Filling the Pre-Seed Gap
10:44 Identifying Winning Teams: Key Traits of Founders
14:00 Navigating the Investment Process: From Idea to Execution
20:21 The Future of Investing: Embracing AI and Personal Growth
Keywords
Gaurav, Afore Capital, venture capital, pre-seed investing, founder traits, AI, entrepreneurship, investment process, startup funding, technology
