A gentleman reached out to me to get my advice on angel investing in companies that are pre-revenue and/or pre-product, of which I have very little. He’d heard about Shotput Ventures through the Atlanta community. I told him that I didn’t have much experience other than the eight companies Shotput funded this past summer. Of course, I had to give him something, so here’s what I came up with:
- Don’t expect to make money
- It isn’t for the feint of heart
- Whatever you invest, save 3x that for later rounds
- Look for a strong product/market fit
- Make sure there’s a personality fit with the team (e.g. you should want to see them once a month for lunch indefinitely)
- Valuations are a shot in the dark
- There’s intrinsic value in giving back and helping others
I’ll revisit this post in 10 years and have even better advice to give.
Note: This advice is for pre-revenue companies.
David Cummings on Startups 
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