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Your first five episodes
If you have never invested in a startup and want to understand what you are getting into, listen to these five in this order.
The mistake most new angels make with podcasts is starting with market commentary, which is the least useful category until you already understand the mechanics. Confident people discussing valuations and funding conditions sounds like the centre of the subject and is close to useless if you have never seen a pitch meeting.
This order goes the other way round: watch a deal happen, learn what founders are taught, understand how the business models work, and only then listen to anyone opine about the market. It takes roughly six hours in total and it will change what you ask in your first founder meeting.
- 01The Pitch
Start by watching the thing itself. One episode of founders pitching real investors teaches more about what a pitch meeting is than any amount of commentary about them.
- 02Y Combinator's channel & Startup School
Then learn what good founders are being told to do. Knowing the standard your companies were shaped against tells you what to expect and what its absence means.
- 03Lenny's Podcast
Now get literate in the vocabulary. Activation, retention, net revenue retention — a few episodes here and you will understand what a founder is claiming rather than nodding along.
- 04Acquired
One long company history, so you know what the finished article looks like and how unrecognisable it was in year two.
- 05All-In
Only now the market commentary, which finally means something because you can tell which parts are analysis and which are position-talking.