Reading Founders

I've turned down more founders than I've backed.

Not because the ideas were bad. Most ideas are fine. Some are great.

It's the founder.

What I'm Watching For

When someone pitches me, I'm not really listening to the deck. I'm watching how they talk about the product.

Do they know what it is? Not what it could be in five years with infinite funding — what it is right now, in its scrappy first version.

The ones who worry me are the ones who can't stop talking about the vision. The market size. The exit. They've got a 40-slide deck and a Notion full of feature ideas. What they don't have is a clear answer to "what does version one actually do?"

Product-market fit matters too. Is there actual demand, or are they building something they wish existed? Niche is fine. Product-adjacents launch into crowded markets all the time and win. But you need to know where you're landing.

The Control Problem

Some founders can't let go.

They want to be in every meeting, every decision, every Slack thread. Not because they're bad people — they just can't separate themselves from the product. It's their baby. I get it.

But that's not partnership. That's project management with extra steps. If I have to ask permission for every button colour and copy change, we're both wasting time.

The Founders We Back

They know when to step aside. They care deeply — but they understand that caring isn't the same as controlling. They can articulate what the product is today. They trust the people they bring in.

That's the difference between a founder who ships and a founder who stalls.

I've been wrong before. Backed people I shouldn't have. Passed on ones I should have taken a chance on. But the pattern holds more often than it doesn't.

The idea matters. The market matters.

But mostly, I'm reading the person.