Back Star Founders

Shaan Puri shares his perspective on backing talented founders even when their initial ideas aren't great, drawing from his experience evaluating founders and seeing how star talent eventually finds success through iteration.

Key Points:

• Star Founder Recognition

  • Can often tell within 60 seconds if someone is a "star" founder
  • The key is then determining if they're working on their "dumb idea, kind of dumb idea, or good idea"
  • Star founders will likely go through all three stages

• Investment Philosophy

  • Smart to back star people even if current idea isn't great
  • They'll do amazing things in life as long as they keep taking attempts
  • Early bad ideas don't matter if the founder has the right qualities

• Real World Examples

  • Many successful founders started with less promising ideas
  • Investors backed them because they saw potential in the person, not the initial concept
  • The relationship starts early so investors can be there when the good ideas emerge

• Investor Psychology

  • "They're just like oh this guy's gonna do shit"
  • "I like this guy's mojo - this is his dumb idea"
  • Willing to get on board early to build relationship for when they "figure their shit out"

• Pattern Recognition

  • Similar to how early investors backed founders who seemed promising despite questionable initial businesses
  • The Hustle (Sam Parr's company) got investment because people saw potential in him despite early uncertainty
  • Focus on backing the person rather than just the current idea