Entrepreneurs Journey - Ham Lord - C Mirabile - Joe Mandato

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Launchpad, Boston’s leading angel group, has published a polished collection of stories that illustrate the success and failure of their portfolio companies over two decades. It is titled “The Entrepreneur’s Journey”. Listen to my interview of authors Ham Lord, Christopher Mirabile and Joe Mandato to learn more about this valuable resource for angels and founders.

Highlights from the interview:

• Peter Fasse of Fish & Richardson Sponsors the Angel Invest Boston Podcast
• Boston’s Answer to The Three Tenors, The Three Super-Angels
• “…back in 2012, started working with some of the members within Launchpad to understand why some of our companies succeeded and why some of them failed.”
• “But there was something about that team that we just couldn't disengage.”
• “…it was one of these software purchases ... unlike a lot of enterprise software ... that immediately paid for itself.”
• “…if we had looked at Mobius and said, "No, hardware company, we're not investing," we would have lost out on an investment that ultimately is going to be a 35x return.”
• “…Intuitive Surgical, where it violated every principle of venture investing. Right?”
• “…it was a 10 year, 35x. That is a beautiful, beautiful investment.”
• “…I could sort of hear myself in some of these stories, and I've changed the approach that I'm taking in certain areas.”
• “We included as much failure as success in this book. Every theme is illustrated by both companies that got lucky and got it right, and companies that didn't.”
• “…One of the challenges is the timeline. For VC, the timeline, it's so long with the biotech's and that's really become problematic.”