The Anti-Silicon Valley Investor: How to Find Success in Early Stage Startups with David Mandel

David Mandel is an emerging tech Super-Angel Investor and managing partner of Emerging Ventures Capital. He has invested in over 500 startups. Before his current career in venture capital, Mr. Mandel built, operated, and exited 4 different successful businesses in the Insurance and Finance industries over 28 years.

[00:01 - 11:08] Getting into Early-Stage Tech Investing

• David built, operated, and exited four different successful businesses in the insurance and finance industries over 28 years
• Exiting his day job to focus on tech investing
• The number one mistake angel investors make is investing in businesses not meant to be venture-backed

[15:10 - 29:32] The Anti-Silicon Valley Investor: How to Find Success in Early-Stage Startups

• Many early-stage startups fail or become "zombies" after taking angel money
• The investment thesis focuses on execution: building, selling, and finding people to pay for the product
• David’s advice to founders: build it yourself, find a co-founder, go to an accelerator program
• Startups outside of Silicon Valley were struggling to figure out how to raise funding and make the next 
• Southern California has great support for life sciences, social space, e-commerce direct-to-consumer brands, and entertainment

[29:32 - 40:04] VC Sentiment in Tech Investing

• Valuations for tech startups have been drastically rising in the past few years
• Private markets lag 6-9 months behind public markets in terms of valuation resetting
• Good startups are still raising money from existing portfolios, but at lower valuations than a year ago.

[40:05 - 41:35] Closing Segment

Quote/s:

“You can be anywhere and apply to anybody. If you’re good, you’ll get funded.” - David Mandel

Connect with David:

Email: dmandel@emerging.vc 

Website: https://emerging.vc/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mandel-/?trk=public_profile_browsemap 

Connect with me on LinkedIn!

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