> To the point where I'd consider them core partners in my journey of building the business.
The startup ecosystem in Brazil is probably in a time lag and perhaps this is why my experience might not be as insightful here. Still, I agree with your comment 100%. The majority of our early investors held some relevant experience in our field or offered tangibly valuable networking opportunities.
In fact, I think that the abundance of venture capital has the effect of flooding the ecosystem with "regular-value investors" (those that only have cash to contribute with), so these "extra-value investors" that actually partner with you are harder to find. And taking the authors suggestion of intentionally starting a bidding war further exacerbates the problem.
Instead of finding someone with experience and maturity in the field you're going to venture into, it increases the odds of picking investors that don't really know much exactly because they won't realize the bid was getting too high. By design you're trading knowledge for higher expectations.
The startup ecosystem in Brazil is probably in a time lag and perhaps this is why my experience might not be as insightful here. Still, I agree with your comment 100%. The majority of our early investors held some relevant experience in our field or offered tangibly valuable networking opportunities.
In fact, I think that the abundance of venture capital has the effect of flooding the ecosystem with "regular-value investors" (those that only have cash to contribute with), so these "extra-value investors" that actually partner with you are harder to find. And taking the authors suggestion of intentionally starting a bidding war further exacerbates the problem.
Instead of finding someone with experience and maturity in the field you're going to venture into, it increases the odds of picking investors that don't really know much exactly because they won't realize the bid was getting too high. By design you're trading knowledge for higher expectations.