An Introduction

Welcome to my newsletter on angel investing and venture capital

In some martial arts, it’s common for students to be taught by students a grade above them. There are two reasons for this. The first is experiential; you’re being taught by someone who has just gone through the same experience you have, and so there’s an element of relatability there (not to mention you’ll learn from the more senior students’ mistakes the first time around). Second, the act of teaching the martial art itself reinforces the learning the senior student initially had.

This newsletter is my way of copying that teaching style - but instead of launching punches and kicks, I’ll be devoting myself to the (different, but no less combative) worlds of venture capital and angel investing.

After absorbing byte after byte of knowledge about tech startups for the best part of a decade, I’ve decided to throw my hat into the investing ring. Initially, I thought to myself: who am I to dive into this space, where I have zero contacts? But the Internet called to me, and thanks to Webs 2 and 3, I found people and communities that taught me a tonne.

I’m not a finance person - I’m a software engineer. But that won’t matter; the VC space is more accessible than ever, as my recent forays within it have proven: I’ve made my first (and my second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth) angel investment. It’s hardly Charlie Munger or Naval Ravikant, but every almanac has a first chapter, right?

So, what are my plans?

I’ll start by going into detail about how I made my first startup investment. I want to demystify the often daunting and challenging world of angel investing - and yes, I will cover the jargon. I mean, if you’ve never been on VC Twitter, how the hell are you meant to know what a SAFE note is? An LP? A Series A? Hopefully, by following this Substack, all will become clear.

Beyond that, I’ll explore the actions of some of the top investors within the VC and angel investing arena. I’ll highlight their strategies and attitudes towards investments. To help you start the journey that I’ve also just started, I’ll direct you to the resources that have helped me the most (as well as offering my summaries of these resources).

Some newsletters deep dive into startups, their business models, and the industries they’re touching. I’ll offer a new perspective on this. Rather than looking at the startups themselves, I’ll study the firms investing in startups. I’ll cover their theses and how the portfolios align with these theses. Basically, what the hell are they investing in, and why? I’ll highlight the investing patterns we’re seeing for specific industries and what direction they might be heading in.

First and foremost, I’m writing this for myself. But it never hurts to have friends along for the ride.

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Thanks to my good friend Joe for reviewing and editing this piece.