E1061 AMA: Hustle Fund Co-Founder & General Partner Elizabeth Yin answers 50 questions from founders!

0:43 Prashant: Would you have benefited from an AngelList equivalent for venture capital? In other words, if up and coming venture firms can find Potential LPs in every corner of the world, instead of just SF?

1:23 Kate: What do you look for in a stand-out startup, specifically? How can I attract investors interested in what I do that will find it rewarding to invest in me besides providing raw numbers and projections?

2:50 Emin: What FOMO tactics are you using while fundraising?

4:23 Cindy: Are you open to funding sextech? How do you approach the vice clause?

5:30 Kevin: How are other seed/early-stage firms investing right now? Does Hustle Fund’s approach vary greatly from the industry standard?

6:36 Susan: How do you think about investing in blockchain, AI, spatial computing XR & AR?

7:23 Matt: At what stage should a startup calculate CAC? We are early, so my co-founder and I physically visit customers to obtain them. Eventually, we will change to a cost-effective channel. Should we put a $ value on our time and begin calculating CAC or not bother at the moment?

9:25 Saul B: How do you think about investing in the biotech/education space? Would you invest in biotech companies tackling the lack of genetics education in K-12?

10:16 Vinay: We are a startup building the graduate program search engine. We are doing what you had done in beatthegmat.com Are you still investing in this business model?

11:16 Kevin: Favorite business models to invest in these days? Conversely, least favorite business models to invest in these days?

12:36 Simeon: What would be the minimum traction for a prop-tech that you would be looking for, before investing in a startup?

12:59 Ed: What kind of trends do you see in sports tech?

13:59 Andrew: I’m an LP in Hustle Fund. How can I be a better backer? Beyond money, what can investors like me do for funds we back?

15:21 Emin: What kind of startups do you want to see in the next 5 years?

18:27 Arjun: What is too early or too late stage for Hustle Fund? Asking because we’re told our MRR $15k is too early but others say not at all.

19:05 Henry: How has your selection criteria changed for founders as a result of COVID? Are there new verticals you are backing given the circumstances?

20:07 Aaron: During this downturn, we had time to re-evaluate our approach and uncovered an exciting new path forward (with a much larger TAM). It contributes to the flywheel but is very different from our core model. How can we effectively communicate that this is the best (albeit riskier) path forward?

21:56 Gustavo: How did corona change the dynamics of raising funds in-person vs remote meetings? And do you think we’ll fully revert to old practices once things normalize?

23:23 Emin: What is your north star vision for the future of Hustle Fund?

24:51 Jason: What's the best pitch you ever got that resulted in the quickest yes and a check from you personally? How did that investment go?

26:29 Farshad: What is the nature of raising a seed round with only an MVP app in a highly regulated industry? There’s the catch 22 problem where you need a small round in order to get approval and move forward. How do investors evaluate those investments and how should you approach it as a founder?

28:05 Marten: How do you see your roadmap for approaching globally thinking, European based pre-seed/ seed startups? Many non-diluting public grants are around in the EU/Nordics which are accessible with just a small amount of private funding.

30:19 Jing: Considering different industries move/evolve at different paces: When evaluating deals, how important is this for making your investment decision? (ex: social media moved faster than e-commerce, B2C user growth is faster than B2B2C)

31:33 Timothy: How do you typically work with founders you backed?