Read the full transcript of Dr. Silvia Mah’s talk titled “The Mindset of Startup Investors” at TEDxSanDiegoWomen 2024 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Evolution of Startup Investment
When you walk the aisles of your supermarket or download the latest app on your phone, have you ever wondered who invented the products you buy or the apps built? And why? And if you take it one step further, who supported them or invested in them at the very start?
The stories behind these innovations are filled with determination and passion, like Dr. Debbie Chen. She’s a Muay Thai fighter. When she enters the ring, she plays gloriously and perseveres, blows fly, blood gushes. She wins. She’s also a scientist. Debbie is an immigrant from Taiwan. She’s a PhD in deep tech with an idea to make a massive impact in hydration. She’s a visionary and an entrepreneur.
Breaking Traditional Molds
She’s built a business, a consumer device, to track how hydrated people are in real time. Amazing, right? Well, let me tell you, the fundraising ring of raising money for her company had just as many blows, even more blood gushing, but without the consistent wins. Why you might ask.
She doesn’t fit the mold of the traditional founder. She’s a mom, Asian, but had amazing leadership qualities. This is where belief comes in. As an active angel investor myself, seeking the most promising inventors and leaders, I saw her as the fighter winner.
I became her investor. I didn’t just invest money in her company. I stewarded her from going from scientist to CEO. I supported her by bringing mentors and advisors around her, and I strategized with her with the launch and scale of her business.
The Changing Investment Landscape
Today, her company and her product is in market, and customers love it.
Well, 20 years ago, it would have been extremely difficult for Debbie to get an investor. She doesn’t look like or sound like the traditional entrepreneur. That pattern did not exist.
But today, investors have a different kind of mindset, a shifting one, one that is not transactional, it’s relational. Now you might be asking yourself, what exactly does it mean to be a startup investor? It means to be the person who gives money to a business at the earliest stages of a startup journey, and funding the most riskiest asset of the startup journey, and they take on significant risk to invest in these startups with the hope of achieving substantial financial returns if the company succeeds. It’s about the ROI, return on investment, and the second ROI, return on impact.
The New Investment Paradigm
Now traditionally, investors operated with a mindset of one out of 10 startups would succeed, focusing on the one survivor to make up for all the losses. They loved it when founders sacrificed comfort for the company, and they sought the biggest returns at all costs. But times are changing. It’s about more than just money for startup investors.
It’s about belief in the company, the founder, and in the products and solutions that are truly solving customers’ needs. Today investors have a different kind of mindset, an abundance one, one that I have embraced by investing in over 160 companies and 15 plus emerging fund managers. My community of investors sees things a bit differently. We desire better returns and believe 9 out of 10 of the startups we invest in will succeed.
A Personal Journey
My journey as an investor has been influenced by the generations before me and is deeply personal. As an immigrant from Venezuela, I stand on the shoulders of giants. My mother, the first in her family to attend college, rationed sugar during World War II in her small town of Salida, Colorado, but she never rationed her quest for knowledge.
My grandmother, a pioneer and rough-around-the-edges, last child of a German family of 14, worked on the farm and attended a one-room prairie schoolhouse, but she made sure her only daughter attended Stanford University.
My father, an orphan, an immigrant from Italy to Venezuela, with only a small suitcase and the clothes on his back, became a successful entrepreneur. Their combined legacy inspires me to invest in the pioneers, the risk-takers, and to be determined to transform this investment world with new hope, new ideas, and new paradigms to invest in these resilient entrepreneurs.
The Three Pillars of Modern Investment
This ethos is shared by a growing community of conscious leaders who believe that investing is about impact and returns. Now you might be asking yourself, how exactly do we do this?
We steward, support, and strategize. Investors steward founders to be thriving leaders. We sit down with them and have great conversations about team excellence and servant leadership. We focus on strengths.
We encourage them to seek strengths and strive towards sustainable growth and innovation. Next, we support our founders by introducing them to growth champions like mentors, advisors, other investors, and industry experts to provide insights and guidance. And lastly, we strategize with startup teams to balance that financial returns and positive impact. And we encourage them to consider broader ways to bring value to all stakeholders, including employees and customers.
A Call to Action
My journey as an investor has been rewarding and fulfilling. I hope others hoping to join this group of investors finds the same joy in it. Are you ready to invest? I encourage you to get active, meet an entrepreneur, write them a check, introduce them to the right people, and believe in them.
Because the more you put in, the more you get out. And the same goes for entrepreneurs out there. I know it’s hard to get an investor and find them and allow them to have a great conversation with you and support them all along your startup journey, but have faith. They’re out there.
And when you find them, build strong relationships with this abundance mindset investors. If you’re ready to invest, seek out the diamonds in the rough, those who are relentless in serving their customers and are driven by a vision to make massive impact. Your role as an investor is to embrace stewardship, provide unwavering support, and strategize with the startups that you believe in and invest in. When you invest in these visionaries, you are entering the ring with them.
And together, you might just turn that 9 out of 10 survival rate into a reality. Investing is about more than just money. So for aspiring and existing investors, I encourage you to be committed, fight hard for founders and with them. Thank you.
