My investment thesis

I realized I joined Republic in early 2018, and I have used that time to invest in a few of companies. This was just one of the ways I managed to beat the accredited investor limitation in the US, which keeps less wealthy people from gaining wealth as fast as rich people.

Between now and then, I have tried to form an educated opinion on every company that I was interested in from an investment perspective and I wanted to formalize that in this article. I talked with a more experienced investor lately and he mentioned how writing down your investment thesis will keep you accountable and focused.

I can definitely see that happening, since one can get distracted by a great pitch and ignore certain points, if you don’t have a clear list.

So here are my criteria for my next few years of investing:

• invest in what I know: marketing technology, artificial intelligence practical applications, customer experience technology, blockchain technology, fintech
• invest in strong founding teams: vetted backgrounds, big-tech alumni, serial entrepreneurs, track record for success; AND/OR great to work with, smart, driven, resourceful, growth mindset (if it’s meaningful enough to get involved personally)
• look for traction or early interest: they have already some paying customers, there is a long waitlist for their product/service, people are willing to use their app, any kind of proof that they are on to something
• the market size is meaningful: they are not limited to local geos, the vision is to address a global market and scale massively; minimum TAM of $10B in 5 years and growing
• investor signaling: if someone wealthier, more experienced than me (a.k.a. top tier accelerators, angels, VCs) already risked early money with them, then I’m more likely to consider investing.

This list is likely to evolve, as I get more experience in the space, so I welcome any suggestions, ideas or feedback!

Photo by Lily Zhou on Unsplash