Investments

I’ve made six angel investments personally, all in founders I knew before investing:

  • Portfolio:
  • Returns:
    • I invested $45K total and have returned $200K (4.4X DPI) so far.
      • My anti-portfolio of founders who I knew and/or advised over the years and then never asked to get an allocation in their seed round would easily increase my IRR over 100%.

I’m now launching Utopic, a pre-seed VC fund investing in new scientific startups.

  • Mission:
    • Empowering scientists to launch more startups that solve the world’s biggest problems by being their first investor and advisor.
  • Strategy:
    • Find scientists with world-changing ideas.
    • Help them launch startups.
    • Invest the first $50K-100K in these companies.
    • Personally advise them on accelerators, fundraising, growth, and exits.
  • Deal Flow:
    • Founders find me through my writing on this website, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
    • I find great founders by being an active alum of Y Combinator (W15) and the University of Michigan (B.S., B.B.A, ’10), advising prospective founders even before they start their companies.