Invest in the Founder
A great founder makes an eight-out-of-ten product win.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~ongoing to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
Emma's investing filter puts the founder above the product. The product still has to speak to her and be something she'd use, but the deciding factor is whether the founder is passionate, intelligent, and relentlessly determined. Her reasoning is that when you invest in a company you are investing in the person, and a great founder will find marketing hacks and make even an eight-out-of-ten product work. She reads that passion directly from the pitch, which she says is hard to hide. She cautions that startups are risky and not for someone's life savings, but for a diversified investor betting on the founder has repeatedly paid off.
Origin
As an angel investor who receives many pitch decks by email, Emma noticed that her most successful investments were the ones where she backed a passionate, driven founder rather than a flawless product. That pattern hardened into a personal rule she now shares with entrepreneurs raising money.
Core principles
- 01When you invest in a company, you're really investing in the founder.
- 02A determined, passionate founder can carry even an imperfect product.
- 03Passion shows in a pitch and is hard to fake.
How to run it
- 1
Check that the product speaks to you
Confirm the product is something you believe in or would use in your daily life before going further.
- 2
Judge the founder above all
Assess whether the founder is passionate, intelligent, and determined, since a strong founder can make even a merely-good product succeed.
Pro tip A great founder with marketing hacks and relentless hustle will find a way to make it work.
- 3
Read passion from the pitch
Look for genuine passion in the pitch deck and delivery, because it comes through and is hard to fake.
Watch out Startups are very risky — don't invest money you can't afford to lose, and don't advise others to risk their life savings.
In the wild
Emma said the companies she invested in that did really well were ones where she invested in the founder, judging that a determined, passionate founder with an eight-out-of-ten product would still make it work.
→ A track record of successful investments driven by founder quality rather than product perfection.
Common mistakes
Over-weighting the product over the person
Choosing a polished product with a weak founder misses that founder drive and hustle are what actually push a company through adversity.
Putting life savings into startups
Startups are highly risky; investing money you can't afford to lose, or advising others to, is reckless regardless of how good the founder seems.
Is it for you?
Best for
Angel investors and anyone evaluating whether to back a startup or founder.
Not ideal for
Risk-averse people investing their life savings, for whom startups are too risky regardless of founder quality.
From the transcript
“I believe when you invest in a company, you are investing in the founder.”
“even if the product was maybe an eight on a scale from 1 to 10 you have an amazing founder... they're going to make it…”
“startups are really risky. So I actually wouldn't recommend that to the average person out there to go invest in startups”
From the episode
Emma Hernan: How to Build Real Wealth & Scale a Business Beyond Reality TV
Emma Hernan