150 Weekly Founder Reviews

A framework shared by Justin Kalbeck (notable angel investor who led Snapchat and Pinterest seed rounds) about deal volume and identifying exceptional founders/opportunities.

Core Philosophy on Deal Volume

• Reviews 100-150 founders every single week
• Only does about 1 deal per month
• Conversion rate is roughly 1 out of 600 opportunities
• Focus on finding "great" vs just "good" opportunities

Key Investment Framework

• Avoid using "great founder" as justification
  • This is a cop-out reason that can't be argued against
  • Must be able to defend investments based on concrete factors
  • Should focus on market, product, and other measurable metrics

Identifying "Great" vs "Good"

• Most people/opportunities fall into "good" category
  • Smart people
  • Interesting ideas
  • Strong backgrounds
• Very few are truly "great"
  • Must be disciplined to only invest in great opportunities
  • Patience required to find exceptional deals
  • Don't settle for good just because of deal flow pressure

Track Record Validation

Notable investments include:

• Grubhub
• Snap
• Opendoor
• Stitch Fix
• Whatnot
• Imperfect Foods
• Boom Aerospace

The key takeaway is maintaining extremely high volume deal flow while having strict discipline to only invest in truly exceptional opportunities, not just good ones.