I've spent a lot of this week with founders, early-stage, most of them, and the same instinct kept playing out. I built and exited two consumer brands, New Covent Garden Soup Co. and Little Dish, and these days I sit more on the investor's side of the table. From there, the pattern isn’t hard to miss. The customer matters hugely as does scalability of the idea and unit economics of the product, but what gets underwritten, every single time, is the person carrying it. Do they truly understand their customer? Can they hold their nerve when the model creaks? Are they being themselves, or performing the version of a founder they think the room wants?
That last one is where many slip up, and it's the one I weigh most heavily. So this week I'm giving you the method I use to come to a judgement on whether to invest or not.
💡 I wrote this week on why a mentor isn't a coach, and the 3 things a good one does on LinkedIn
🛎 FREE THIS WEEK:
CUTE Framework
This is the exact test I run on a business before I decide whether to back it. The guide shows you how to spot the gap an investor would, so you can close it before they get to notice it.
🎥 Across the Channels
The founders I learn most from are not the ones who have already exited. They are the ones currently in the hardest part of the build.
No tidy success stories. The real decisions, the wrong turns, the moments that nearly broke the business, turned into lessons you can actually use.
The first episode is live. Watch it on YouTube.