Forget Everything You Know About Angel Investing: The Producer's Mindset That Makes You a 10x Better Investor

#85 Angelinvesting.it - From idea to Series A - Weekly Newsletter

3 minutes to reflect

I'm penning this newsletter from my father's quaint hometown in southern Italy. I've got to be honest - I miss him terribly. He was my moral compass and life mentor. When I think about how lucky I was to have him in my life, it fills me with a warm, comforting feeling.

Ironically, I think the best lessons he taught me came from his mistakes. My old man was notorious for messing up - and often. His close colleagues had even formed a secret "damage control" team to manage the fallout from his poor decisions. But you know what? Those constant slip-ups had their silver lining. As they say, "action brings information," and boy, did my father's mistakes bring buckets of it. Some were costly blunders, sure, but almost all came with nuggets of precious insight.

The least obvious - and perhaps most costly - mistake I saw him make was thinking he could be the lead actor, director, and producer in the organization he'd built.

At one point, he had 5,000 people hanging on his every word. No board, no shareholders - just him, the big boss of his self-made world.

This experience shapes how I see my role as an angel investor. I remind myself that I'm the producer, not the star of the show. I bring capital, connections, and experience when asked, all to help the startup (our "movie") succeed.

Many rookie angel investors muddy the waters - they try to direct, meddle with strategy, or even step into the founder's shoes. Trust me, it happens way more often than it should.

2 resources to advance to pro

2 kind of mistakes

One-way and two-way door decisions provide a practical framework for decision-making in software engineering management. The idea, popularized at Amazon, illustrates the reversibility and implications of choices we make

How kids bravery turns into an hedge (sometimes)

We chronically underestimate young people Heman Bekele has invented a soap that may treat and even prevent multiple forms of skin cancer. He is 15 years old. Anand Sanwal

1 reason to smile

Have a great weekend,

Simone