{"id":40899,"date":"2023-10-20T15:10:39","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/rampersand-investment-manager-eloise-watson-on-the-worst-pitch-shes-ever-received-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:10:39","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:10:39","slug":"rampersand-investment-manager-eloise-watson-on-the-worst-pitch-shes-ever-received-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/rampersand-investment-manager-eloise-watson-on-the-worst-pitch-shes-ever-received-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Rampersand investment manager Eloise Watson on the worst pitch she’s ever received – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rampersand<\/div>\n

In part three of StartupSmart<\/em>\u2019s investor series, we speak with Rampersand investment manager Eloise Watson.<\/p>\n

Watson and fellow female investors, like Scale angel Connie Kuhlman and Blue Sky Venture Capital\u2019s Dr Elaine Stead, are a minority today in\u00a0the investor market.<\/p>\n

But their presence and that of other marginalised groups in this sector can\u00a0shift the game of entrepreneurship Down Under<\/a> and around the world.<\/p>\n

Read more: Scale angel investor Connie Kuhlman\u2019s best advice for new investors<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In part one<\/a>\u00a0of the series, Watson told StartupSmart<\/em> she became an investor to nurture her fascination with entrepreneurship and big ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was at uni, I co-founded a social enterprise, which I continue to chair,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom this experience I fell in love with entrepreneurship and knew from then that I wanted to help startups.\u201d<\/p>\n

This week, we ask Watson about life as an investor, her proudest investments, the best and worst pitches she\u2019s ever heard, and her advice to new investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere isn\u2019t really any specific educational background required [to be an investor],\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou need to have a willingness to learn, and the ability to take relatively ambiguous data and form a compelling case for why an investment makes sense. A background working in either an advisory or finance role can help as it gives you a good business base to work from.\u201d<\/p>\n

What kind of startups are you most interested in?<\/h3>\n

\u201cComing from a statistics background, anything in the analytics space is interesting to me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am also really interested in new ways of distributing insurance products, innovation in the video space, tech that helps business better cope with the changing employment landscape, and innovations which help society better cope with the ageing population.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the best approach a startup has used to grab your attention?<\/h3>\n

\u201cHonestly, just sending me an email directly that is clearly not a copy paster job and concisely explains the problem, solution, team and current stage\u2014either in the email or in an attached deck. I read every email sent to me and it is surprising how rarely founders do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the worst pitch you\u2019ve seen so far?<\/h3>\n

\u201cTwo co-founders once pitched to me that they wanted $5 million, and $1 million was going just towards their own salaries in the first year because as they said, it would be a privilege for us to be able to have them involved as they could make millions working at a hedge fund otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cNeedless to say I suggested that maybe they do just go to the hedge fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

What investment are you most proud of?<\/h3>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s like asking a parent to choose their favourite child! We have 14 companies in the portfolio and we love them all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll call out a couple that I\u2019m proud of though: Tzukuri was the first investment we made after I joined Rampersand. [It was] backing a 19-year-old first-time founder with a moonshot idea so that one will always be special.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd PromisePay<\/a> was the first investment from fund number two and I was really heavily involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who do you look up to?<\/h3>\n

\u201cWhat Marc Andreessen<\/a> has done in creating Andreessen Horowitz is very inspiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy putting founders at the heart of everything, he has really helped drive the space to be more founder-friendly and I think that is the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes a strong investor?<\/h3>\n

\u201cBeing able to listen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAsking the right questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmpathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a brand new investor, what\u2019s your best advice?<\/h3>\n

\u201cSpend 90 percent of the time listening and reading.<\/p>\n

“In the end, you are backing people so make sure you believe in the founder\u2019s vision [and] their ability to execute, and [that] you can see yourself working with them for the next five or so years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The finale of StartupSmart\u2019s investor series featuring Blue Sky Venture Capital’s Elaine Stead will be published on Friday.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em>\u00a0Facebook<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and iTunes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In part three of StartupSmart\u2019s investor series, we speak with Rampersand investment manager Eloise Watson. Watson and fellow female investors,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,21,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}