{"id":45318,"date":"2023-10-20T15:42:34","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/what-founders-and-investors-misunderstand-about-each-other-according-to-true-friend-to-startups-gavin-appel-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:42:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:42:34","slug":"what-founders-and-investors-misunderstand-about-each-other-according-to-true-friend-to-startups-gavin-appel-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/what-founders-and-investors-misunderstand-about-each-other-according-to-true-friend-to-startups-gavin-appel-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"What founders and investors misunderstand about each other according to “true friend to startups” Gavin Appel – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

Across more than 20 years Gavin Appel has held nearly every position you can in the startup world, from founder to CTO, and product developer to venture capitalist.<\/p>\n

He was a core member of Hitwise\u2019s leadership team, a startup eventually acquired for $240 million, a SVP at Experian and a partner at Square Peg Capital.<\/p>\n

Now he has returned to the other side, founding Onestack, a new venture aiming to \u201chelp founders build world-class companies\u201d.<\/p>\n

Given his widespread experience, he has the unique perspective of being on both sides of the table.<\/p>\n

In a recent AMA session hosted by Blackbird Ventures, Appel described the common things that founders and investors misunderstand about each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think many founders in Australia do not understand the inner workings of VCs \u2013 how they operate and the logic behind why they do the deals they do,\u201d Appel says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt Onestack we are helping to educate founders by connecting them via intimate events that allow them to build relationships early and understand what the VC\u2019s investment philosophies are to ensure they are successful when it\u2019s time to raise.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the other side, Appel says investors need to be more transparent about the decisions they make.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving been an investor, I think there is an opportunity for VCs to be more specific in the reasons why they decide not to pursue a particular investment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe \u2018it\u2019s too early\u2019 response is an easy way out. VCs can be more transparent about if it\u2019s the team that\u2019s not outstanding, the market isn\u2019t big enough or the metrics are shit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s best to be direct so the founders can improve. Then next time they can come to the VC and show they improved based on the feedback, which the VCs will recognise and be happy that the founders listened to their previous feedback and improved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Q&A sessions also included a number of other useful and interesting insights from the highly experienced entrepreneur and investor.<\/p>\n

On the ideal founding team<\/h3>\n

Appel says that a startup\u2019s team is the most important measure of whether it will be successful or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a huge believer that if you have the right team anything is possible,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a startup, things are not always in your control and you never know what\u2019s around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important to have a co-founder that can fill in for your own weaknesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving a co-founder is important as starting a business is lonely, hard work and bloody challenging,\u201d Appel says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy having a co-founder with complementary skills it allows you to achieve more with less which is what all startups need to do. In my opinion if you\u2019re building a technology startup it\u2019s crucial to have a technical co-founder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lessons from being a VC<\/h3>\n

He says having the experience as an investor has proved extremely useful when returning to a startup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the experience I have acquired from being a VC has expanded my knowledge and skill set dramatically and added insight into how the \u2018mysterious\u2019 VC industry works and drives the tech world,\u201d Appel says.<\/p>\n

And his biggest takeaway is that startups don\u2019t always have to seek outside funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I take from this experience is that taking on external capital is a big decision to make,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople compare taking on external capital as a marriage because you are stuck with whoever is on your cap table for a long time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake sure you are taking on external capital for the right reasons and not because it is \u2018cool\u2019. It\u2019s because you have the conviction that your startup can globally dominate its space, that you and your team are best positioned to win and the capital you take on will allow you to accelerate this outcome and provide a strong return for shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most exciting thing in tech<\/h3>\n

Appel says the thing he is most excited about in the world of tech today is artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know the current AI products we use every day like Siri and personal assistants,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the sophistication of these and similar AI products reminds me of when we were all using directories to find content on the internet back in the mid-90s and look at where we are today with search only 20 years on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, <\/em>LinkedIn <\/em>and <\/em>SoundCloud.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Across more than 20 years Gavin Appel has held nearly every position you can in the startup world, from founder<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,24,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45318"}],"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=45318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}