RTC #29: Are successful athletes the better founders?

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📢 Top 7 links of the week

👉 Bootstrapped vs. VC-backed startup. How do you decide what’s right for you? (Link) - My favorite this week

👉 This is how you can increase your chances for Product-Market-Fit (Link)

👉 Planning to raise capital? There is no need to wait until September, venture deals DO get signed in the summer (Link)

👉 How do you make sure the PROBLEM you are solving is BIG enough? (Link)

👉 Is the digital nomad dream over in Lisbon? (Link)

👉 I love it when founders ask for help (Link)

👉 Tell exactly THIS to investors when asked about your burn rate 😉 (Link)

📖 Report of the week

Another must-read from Andreessen Horowitz (aka a16z)

🤿 Are successful athletes the better founders?

A few months ago I had one of my favorite fire-side chats with Laurenz Simbruner from PUSH VC.

I asked him about an unconventional metric or signal that he had found indicative of an early-stage startup's potential for success - this was his reply:

I loved it.

Before our chat, this had never occurred to me, and I hadn't paid much attention to it either. However, since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

At Beyond Tomorrow we are investing in early-stage companies.

This means that the profile of the founder(s) is one of the most important criteria for our investment decision:

• Do I believe that this is a person who can “execute” the vision?

• Is he/she the “best horse” for this specific opportunity to bet on?

Looking at it in more detail, there is a lot that a (successful) former athlete brings to the table that I believe is a competitive edge to be successful as a founder (🙏 Mark Moyer).

Goal-Oriented Mindset
👉 Working towards specific goals: whether it was winning a game, having a faster time, or learning a new skill

Resilience and Perseverance
👉 Athletes face numerous challenges, setbacks, and failures throughout their careers. You’ve always gotten up and come back strong when you’ve gotten knocked down

Strong Work Ethic 
👉 Athletes understand the importance of hard work and dedication and know that stamina pays off

Discipline and Self-Motivation 
👉 High level of discipline and self-motivation with strict training regimens, following schedules, and staying committed to the goals

Ability To Perform Under Pressure 
👉 Perform to the best of your ability even when under tremendous scrutiny

Competitive Mindset
👉Competitive drive and a desire to outperform their opponents

Adaptability And Agility
👉 Athletes are accustomed to adapting to changing circumstances, adjusting strategies, and quickly responding to unforeseen situations on the field

On the flip side, I believe (and have experienced) that there can be a significant difference between athletes in team sports and those who are individual athletes, especially when it comes to leading a team and managing relationships with co-founders.

Now, addressing the most crucial questions.

What does this mean for my investment approach?

✅ I have to admit: Being a former (successful) athlete is a plus for getting the first meeting with me as an investor.

Were most of my investments founded by former athletes?

❌ No, as many more aspects determine my assessment of the founder and the potential I see in him/her and the team.

But it is not only about founders,

Did you know Shaquille O’Neal is one of the most successful early-stage investors? Google, Vitamin Water… 🚀

➡️This guy invests better than most professional investors out there!

• Google: Invested alongside Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins at the Series A in 1999

• Lyft: Invested a year after it was founded. Lyft later went public in 2019 at a valuation of $22 billion

• Ring: Got kicked off “Shark Tank” without a deal; O’Neal saw the potential and Amazon.com Inc. later acquired Ring for $1 billion

• Vitamin Water: One of the early investors and was sold to Coca-Cola for $4.2 billion in 2007

Finally, let us not forget about Serena Williams…14 unicorns

💰 Raising or planning to raise capital?

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➡️ Book one of my “20 minutes for EUR 20” sessions and I get you covered

Explore today’s topic further with these useful reads

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We hear us next week,
Stephan 👋

Issue #29 | 02 July 2024