What we look for in founders

First: they explain their business in language a smart eight-year-old can follow. Complexity is fine; obfuscation is a tell.

Second: they have a real point of view about their customer, built from conversations rather than from a persona document. Someone they could call right now and have answer the phone.

Third: they ship in spite of you. The cheque helps, the introduction helps, the advice occasionally helps, and the founder you keep backing is the one who would have shipped anyway.