I’ve mentioned before that I really got into investing last year. While, I did get into investing in general I specifically really dived into angel investing/investing in startups. I think this was a natural step as I’ve worked with entrepreneurs a lot, I like trying things, one of my close friends is in Venture Capital (VC), and I’ve personally seen what angel investing/VC can do. I actually wanted to start this series with this post but when I came up with the idea for the series the investment I wanted to focus on was closing on the first of June. I had already written that post up and hadn’t yet written this intro so when they extended their raise it was too late for me to change my order.
Anyways, why I invest. It’s fun and exciting, anything can happen so it’s a bit risky (big risk = big reward). I also realize that investing allows you to shape society in a way that you can’t through pure philanthropy. This really gets into my thesis for investing. An investment thesis, basically states what you invest in and why. So it could be industry specific or in companies of a certain size or companies that have a certain valuation. You write your own thesis and there is essentially no right or wrong way to do it. This document is used to guide you, you don’t have to share it. It’s your beacon to remind you on how you want to shape your portfolio/where you want to invest your money. I actually use my thesis for investing in both startups and in the stock market. For those that know me, my thesis will not be surprising. I primarily invest in startups focused on sustainability, automation, and food that are founded by BI(P/W)OC.
I personally have a more complex and broad definition of sustainability so this allows me to be a bit more flexible in my thesis. My background is in sustainability and I’ve been in this field for a while so I have bit of insight into it and am therefore more comfortable investing my money into startups in this field. I also want there their to be more companies that help us live more sustainably. I believe deeply in automation to free humanity from unnecessary work. So in short I invest in companies that are helping to build the world I want to live in.
I rarely stray from this thesis but occasionally I do for the right fintech (financial technology), edtech (educational technology), or wellness/health startup. The person who actually spurred me to start this series has a very different thesis than mine. They are focused on companies that have a certain valuation (essentially what the company is worth//there are a million ways to calculate this but it’s normally some multiple of their projected revenue). Some people do a combination of this, so they may only invest in financial technology companies with valuations between $10-20 million. Some people will invest in companies that are only early stage and raising their Seed or pre-seed round. Financing rounds are generally ordered like this pre-seed, seed, series A, B, C, D, (and sometimes) E. These funding amounts will all vary by company and there is very little consistency between the round amount and the name. The round name give you a little idea of where the company is at in it’s life.
By now you’re probably wondering what I’m invested in. I’m only sharing the companies I’m invested in outside of Roth IRA, which if you haven’t set one up, please please please do! I worked with a licensed financial planner, who is absolutely brilliant, and I am happy to connect you with her just DM me on Instagram and I will connect you. She is sooo knowledgeable, her recommendations are fantastic! (I’m really happy because my IRA is up 36%). So my actual portfolio companies in alphabetical order are:
- Bloomi
- CodeCombat
- Delee
- Deuce Drone
- Dollaride
- ecotext
- it’s by u
- Juna (which I love so much)
- Miso Robotics
- Moku Foods (also some really bomb mushroom jerky)
- NowRx (lowkey regret doing this investment)
- R3 Printing (lowkey regret doing this investment)
- Renewal Foods
- Sienna Sauce
- Talla ai
- Terracycle
TrustStamp(this company actually went public last year)- Winc
I really get into things sometimes and that’s what happened last year because except for like 3 of these companies I invested in all of them in 2020. I really went super overboard, it’s actually a little embarrassing and I regret some of these investments just slightly. I toned down dramatically what and how much I’m investing and I’m trying very hard to stick to my thesis. I’ll admit I didn’t really know what I was doing when I started and I didn’t have a thesis which is why some investments don’t actually align with my thesis, but a year into this I’ve learned a ton and feel much more confident about moving forward.