At a previous Silicon Dragon event in Hong Kong, audiences were treated to a special investor panel featuring Jeffrey Paine of Golden Gate Ventures and the Singapore Founder Institute, Chibo Tang of Gobi Partners, and Patrick Loofbourrow of Cooley LLP. The panel was moderated by Silicon Dragon's Rebecca Fannin, as the investors gave their insights into entrepreneur potential and Asia's startup scene.
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We tend to do more seed deals…we tend to look for crazy people, and ask them what they want to do.
In the panel discussion, Jeffrey mentioned that his firm (Golden Gate Ventures) chooses startups based on the personality of the founders. They seek out risk-takers and people who have a true calling and passion for entrepreneurship, and invest in those companies.
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Sometimes (founder's) ideas are a little off whack, so I'll ask them to pivot and then come talk to me.
Paine asserts that the aptitude of founders is more important than their idea, a view that is shared by several other prominent investors. Jason Calacanis, one of the world's most storied angel investors, had a similar insight regarding his decision not to invest in Twitter and Zynga. Despite sensing that the founders of these companies possessed intangible entrepreneur potential, their intelligence, and their rebellious attitude, he chose not to invest due to concerns over the stength of their initial ideas. Later, he wrote that "I was wrong about their ideas, but I was right about them."
FinTech has been pretty hot.
Regarding the hottest sector to launch a company, Jeffrey points out that FinTech has been an area of tremendous buzz in Asia. However, he also goes on to give some valuable advice, pointing out that FinTech is a difficult sector for execution and scaling. As a result, picking the correct investor as a FinTech company is absolutely crucial. An investor with a long timescale and patience is an ideal match. Furthermore, Jeffrey also urges founders in difficult sectors to fight through the difficulties of executing in hard sectors, because the potential outcomes are worthwhile: building an enduring company.
