How VCs Judge Founders With No Track Record

Thanks for having me.

So for listeners who aren't familiar, what is Outlander VC and what do you focus on at the earliest stage?

We are a first check investor.

So we aim to be the very first check into a founder who as early as possible.

We prefer pre-product, pre-everything.

We just really want one, two, maybe three brilliant founders who are ready to build a massive business.

So we come in with one to $3 million at the idea stage, and then we'll back you up for the next 10, 15 years and work side by side with you through all the hard stuff.

Sounds simple, but I'm guessing there's a lot more involved with a multi-year relationship like that.

Let's break it down.

What does idea stage investing actually mean in practice? How early are you getting involved?

Trust, we truly mean idea stage.

So when we did scale, I was the first checking the scale pre-YC.

It was, we're going to go work on the AI.

And there's some interesting problems, but we don't know exactly what the thing is.

I funded, you know, a company called Havoc, which is now one of the biggest maritime autonomy platforms.

It was a couple veterans saying, hey, we think we need massive swarms of autonomous ships, but we've built nothing.

We just have a whiteboard.

And that is how early we like to invest.

At that point, it seems like it's probably a cliche.

You're kind of betting on the team and their ability to execute.

It's not as much as the idea itself.

And it is mostly the team.

It is picking what I think of as an A-plus captain who can navigate that ship in some direction.

So I do care about the general direction.

I just don't care you talking 95 degrees, 80 degrees.

Thanks for having me.

So for listeners who aren't familiar, what is Outlander VC and what do you focus on at the earliest stage?

We are a first check investor.

So we aim to be the very first check into a founder who as early as possible.

We prefer pre-product, pre-everything.

We just really want one, two, maybe three brilliant founders who are ready to build a massive business.

So we come in with one to $3 million at the idea stage, and then we'll back you up for the next 10, 15 years and work side by side with you through all the hard stuff.

Sounds simple, but I'm guessing there's a lot more involved with a multi-year relationship like that.

Let's break it down.

What does idea stage investing actually mean in practice? How early are you getting involved?

Trust, we truly mean idea stage.

So when we did scale, I was the first checking the scale pre-YC.

It was, we're going to go work on the AI.

And there's some interesting problems, but we don't know exactly what the thing is.

I funded, you know, a company called Havoc, which is now one of the biggest maritime autonomy platforms.

It was a couple veterans saying, hey, we think we need massive swarms of autonomous ships, but we've built nothing.

We just have a whiteboard.

And that is how early we like to invest.

At that point, it seems like it's probably a cliche.

You're kind of betting on the team and their ability to execute.

It's not as much as the idea itself.

And it is mostly the team.

It is picking what I think of as an A-plus captain who can navigate that ship in some direction.

So I do care about the general direction.

I just don't care you talking 95 degrees, 80 degrees.