We (Marat & Mohan) are serial entrepreneurs with multiple successful exits and both are founding partners of Good News Ventures.
Over the years we have invested in many startups based in North America or serving the North American market.
Our team invest at Pre-seed, Seed or Seed+ stages in interesting business models including SaaS, Enterprise/SMB, B2B/B2B2C and Crypto. We invest in tech companies in all sectors including Fintech, AI/ML, IoT, Infrastructure, Blockchain and Quantum Computing to name a few.
We analyzed some of our best personal & funds investments as well as learned various patterns from successful GPs in the VC world (A16Z, Sequoia, Kleiner Perkins, USV to name a few). There are two distinct approaches to identify opportunities. One camp of investors is predominantly focused on the markets and another one (which arguably the biggest) is focused on people. We believe the truth is somewhere in between and it's the relationship between Markets, People & Tech which makes this more Art than Science.
The answers to 3 simple questions Why you, Why now and Why this provide us with insights into the key factors that are common among successful companies.
- We admire those who embrace the risk and uncertainty and aren’t afraid to break with convention. We look for qualities such as Leadership/Courage/Integrity
- There is a strong founder-market fit
- Huge self motivation (monetary compensation is not a primary driver)
- A successful team is able to execute relentlessly and to learn from mistakes. The team is got to be optimized for learning.
- Great companies are after emerging markets where could be many products. We believe the expansion of the emerging market amplifies the growth of the opportunity.
In addition, it’s equally if not more important to look back and analyze the things we have actually done at the time of investment in those opportunities.
For starters, you have to proactively reach out to founders. Most of our best deals came via outbound and few via referrals. Great founders are busy. Generally we don’t expect to find the next big thing in our inbox that came via cold email.
Best deals are usually competitive and founders get to choose who they want to partner with. You need to prove that you’d be helpful down the road. So we make sure we provide help when needed. Remember, capital is a commodity.
In most cases we invested relatively quickly usually within a couple of weeks or so. Successful founders subconsciously understand that time is the most precious resource and spend the most of it building & iterating the product. Be prepared to be under pressure to make an investment decision quickly.
You have to embrace the risk & uncertainty. Let's make one thing clear: we won't know the real winners in the portfolio at the time of investment. Therefore, we embrace the unpredictability.
Be patient. You have to be patient & curious in order to “Be in the right place, at the right time”.
Invest in many. We can’t stress this enough to have a portfolio approach especially investing in early stage companies. Due to the nature of power law, most of the returns are going to come from selected few.
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark” — Michelangelo
Our deal flow comes from personal relationships built over the years with entrepreneurs, incubators, angels and VCs. Our goal is to syndicate some of the deals.