I recently finished reading Angel by Jason Calacanis and did not realize how impactful it would be. I started to realize how truly passionate I was about entrepreneurship/startups and started respecting the work in a whole new way. Taking risks and believing in the management team and the companies is a huge part of diligence. No one can really know how well a company will do initially, but research will help us take our best guesses.
One of the biggest things that I learned from this book was to take chances on the management team and to always do primary research. We work with early seed stage companies so some of the most important research we can do is in the market and to look at the management team. This helps you understand the company at a deeper level. I also thought one of the best pieces of advice from the book was that the best questions to ask a company are not the ones you wrote down. Staying curious and attentive in a meeting is what will help you truly understand the team and their vision for the company.
I came into Atland not knowing how to do diligence properly and I have definitely learned a lot. Doing research and staying curious about different markets is something that helps when it’s time for diligence. You don’t need to understand exactly what you need to do going into it, but you do need to be willing to work hard and stay curious about what you’re doing. The information is out there as long as you’re willing to look for it. Management teams are excited to tell you about their business as long as you are truly ready to listen. The biggest thing I took away from this book was to take your best-educated guess and go with it, you got this.
Author: Kiley Giebel
