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Introducing Initialized Capital

initialized.com

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Re: Introducing Initialized Capital

#91

Post by garry »

downandout wrote: post #72
garry wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're trying to figure out ways to get around this for later stage seed investments. We don't have a solution yet, but we're working on it. In a thread below I talk about file cabinet industries — industries that basically have no software, and are horribly inefficient. Investing is absolutely one of those, but only using email and calendaring. The main bottleneck for investors is number of hours in the day, because…

>We're trying to figure out ways to get around this for later stage seed investments. Does that mean that seed stage companies should not bother contacting you unless they can get a warm intro?

By late stage for us, I was thinking that you still also have YC for the earliest stage and it's still the best way in the world to "cold pitch" someone but still have a chance to get funded and identified with no existing connections. It worked that way for me, anyway.

Re: Introducing Initialized Capital

#92

Post by garry »

snambi wrote: post #55
garry wrote: post #3

Hi HN! Happy to answer questions here, which is funny because this is where it all really started for me back in 2007 when I was first thinking of starting my first company. I started as an HN reader working at a friend's startup, applied to YC and got in, became a YC partner, and then an early stage investor. We're engineers and designers and product folks, and most investors aren't still (which is crazy, right?) so…

Hi Garry, Its inspiring to see you started here in 2007. I've never talked to investors before. What would be your advice, if I need to get started?

Try to use plain spoken language to describe what you do, who needs it, and ideally what you've done already. Doing that alone will get you to better than 80% of pitches out there.

Re: Introducing Initialized Capital

#93

Post by aerosmile »

If you haven't met Garry, Alexis or the rest of the team, by now you will have read that they have all worked very hard to earn all this good will that's reflected in the comments. And if you're wondering how you can be like them one day, it's really very simple - pay it forward and be kind. Obviously, it helps if you're also incredibly smart and experienced, but the first two items alone will get you very far.

I first met Alexis in 2011 in Austin, and to this day my wife and I often reference the many different nuggets of wisdom he shared with us. A couple of years later, I met Garry at YC, and his support far exceeded the typical business stuff - we were having a hard time at one point, and his help made all the difference.

What I appreciate the most about people like this group is that they are setting a high bar for everyone who's trying to be a value-adding investor - and people are also stepping up to the plate. The amount of help that my current startup has received from people with no skin in the game is truly remarkable, and people like Garry are the real reason why building a startup in the Valley is easier than anywhere else.

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