Join Angel Investor Dan Scheinman for a session on what good seed investors really do. Dan is an investor in CyCognito, Opas AI, Imubit and more.

1. WHAT GOOD SEED INVESTORS REALLY
DO: LESSONS FROM THE FIRST
INVESTORS IN ZOOM, TREASUREDATA,
SENTINELONE, AND MORE
DAN SCHEINMAN
Angel Investor
@dscheinm

2. Dan Scheinman
Angel Investor
@dscheinm
What good seed investors really do: Lessons from
the first investors in Zoom, TreasureData, Dentinelone, and
more

3. FROM
COFFEE SHOP
TO NAME ON
THE BUILDING
Lessons Learned from
Funding 20B+ of 3 Unicorns
(and some flops as well)

4. In an ultra competitive market,
there are three critical things to know:
ALIGN
RESOURCES
ALIGN
INVESTORS
MARRY
MISSION WITH
VALUE
• Progress cannot be made without proper planning of:
spend, product, and go to market.
A L I G N Y O U R R E S O U R C E S A R O U N D
A C H I E V I N G F O R WA R D TA R G E T S .
• Investors cannot cause you to succeed, but they can cause you
to fail.
A L I G N E D I N V E S T O R S A R E U S E F U L I N V E S T O R S .
• The best businesses of the future are those where
meaning is equally important as success.
D O N ’ T B E A F R A I D T O M A R RY M I S S I O N
A N D B U S I N E S S .

5. 20B+
In value creation in 7 years
with multiple exits
1-2 companies/year
In Enterprise and Infrastructure
As an investor, my success is built
on working with great entrepreneurs.
Treasure Data
ThinkBig Analytics
Reveal Imaging
TomFoolery
Unicorns / Near Unicorns
Active PortfolioStrong non-IPO Exits

6. SEED
A ROUND
B ROUND
FUNDRAISE
• 18-20 months
This is a 7-10 year marathon
done in 18 month sprints.
FUNDRAISE
• 18-20 months
FUNDRAISE
• 18-20 months
GOALS
• Define MVP
• Build product
• Find five
customers
• Price product
GOALS
• Channel
experimentation
• CAC discovery
• Product expansion
• $1 million ARR
GOALS
• Channel
Investment
• CAC optimization
• Product maturity
• $5-10 million ARR

7. • How do you find customers?
• And then scale?
• At the lowest possible costs?
The eternal startup problem.
* Said 100+ years ago
– Arthur Dorrance, Founder, Campbell
Soups
“It seemed easier to me
to make the soups,
rather than sell them.” *

8. To meet your targets, integrate don’t silo.
FUNDRAISING
GO TO MARKET
PRODUCT

9. To meet your targets, integrate don’t silo.
The target customer should be:
 Narrowly defined
 Aligned with your feature set
 Reachable with the level of
funding you have.

10.  Provides support and encouragement
 Introduces you to follow on investors
 Asks thoughtful questions
 Is not supportive
 Thinks about him/herself first
 Are high overhead
Finding investors is not about finding dollars,
it’s about finding ALIGNMENT.
A great investor: A sucky investor:
SEED
A ROUND
B ROUND
FUNDRAISE
• 18-20 months
FUNDRAISE
• 18-20 months
FUNDRAISE
• 18-20 months
GOALS
• Define MVP
• Build product
• Find five
customers
• Price product
GOALS
• Channel
experimentation
• CAC discovery
• Product expansion
• $1 million ARR
GOALS
• Channel
Investment
• CAC optimization
• Product maturity
• $5-10 million ARR

11. • What kind of returns and in what time
frame would make you successful?
• Tell me about your last three deals?
• Tell me about a relationship with a
founder that worked and one that did
not?
• What is your role in the investment
decision?
• Tell me who has funded the next round
of your recent investments?
• Where is your value add with founders?
Despite your pitch
fatigue, it’s your
greatest responsibility
to find the alignment of
interests.
Finding investors is not about finding dollars, it’s
about finding ALIGNMENT.

12. Capital efficiency will endear
you to all investors.
And it will empower you.
In other words:
Make sure
the money
is right
for you.

13. Knowing your competitors
improves investor perception.

14. NEGATIVE
NEUTRAL
POSITIVE
Regular communication preserves investor good will.
• Develop a regular
update cadence.
• Ensure that your
message is consistent
from top down,
regardless of
audience.
– John Morgridge, the first pro CEO of Cisco
“The art of good marketing is telling
the truth attractively.”

15. Happiness is a thing.
TIME (how long it lasts)
HAPPINESS(howgreatyoufeel)
SEED
A ROUND
B ROUND
FUNDRAISE
• 18-20
months
FUNDRAISE
• 18-20 months
FUNDRAISE
• 18-20 months
GOALS
• Define MVP
• Build product
• Find five
customers
• Price product
GOALS
• Channel
experimentation
• CAC discovery
• Product expansion
• $1 million ARR
GOALS
• Channel Investment
• CAC optimization
• Product maturity
• $5-10 million ARR
PLEASURE
rock star
happiness
PASSION
flow and
engagement
PURPOSE
feeling part of
something
bigger than
you

16. Let’s recap:
ALIGN
RESOURCES
ALIGN
INVESTORS
MARRY
MISSION WITH
VALUE
• Progress cannot be made without proper planning of:
spend, product, and go to market.
A L I G N Y O U R R E S O U R C E S A R O U N D
A C H I E V I N G F O R WA R D TA R G E T S .
• Investors cannot cause you to succeed, but they can cause you
to fail.
A L I G N E D I N V E S T O R S A R E U S E F U L I N V E S T O R S .
• The best businesses of the future are those where
meaning is equally important as success.
D O N ’ T B E A F R A I D T O M A R RY M I S S I O N
A N D B U S I N E S S .

17. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
@dscheinm
dscheinm@gmail.com