Zaw Thet
Tech Entrepreneur & Investor at Signia VC. Host of Meet The Operators
Discussion
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Zaw Thet
@zawthet · GP, Signia Venture Partners
Howdy folks - I'm Zaw Thet, one of the founding Partners at Signia. We're an early-stage investor in companies like Cruise, Boxed, Super Evil Megacorp, and more. I'm also a recovering serial entrepreneur, devoted Green Bay Packers fan (grew up in WI), horrible golfer, and passionate about social causes like fighting climate change. Basically, we can talk about anything and everything (yes, you can even pitch your new start-up idea).
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Thanks everyone, that was super fun. Hard to type that fast...and grammar/spelling definitely suffered, but happy to follow up with anyone. You can ping me on twitter here: https://twitter.com/zawthet and be sure to follow my series of Meet The Operator interviews on medium: https://medium.com/meet-the-oper...
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Jennifer Colton
@jennifer_colton · Compared to most I'm a Luddite.
What has been your biggest failure as an investor or entrepreneur? What did you learn and how did you bounce back?
@jennifer_colton way too many to even list here! my biggest lesson in life has been to never see it as failure, but as feedback. you're going to fail multiple times in your life...every start-up goes from the highest heights to the lowest lows...what's important is how you come back. Winston Churchill said it best, I'm going to paraphrase: "success consists of going from failure to failure without lack of enthusiasm"
Avinash Dabir
@bringmedabir · Remix Media, Inc
Who is one guest (no longer living) you'd like to have on Meet The Operators? Why?
@bringmedabir my grandad (pho pho in burmese). he and i were super close and he's one of the most interesting people i've ever met. from teaching history in england to being in WWII...the stories that man had never ceased to amaze me. i still miss him everyday
Jon Sadow
@jonsadow · Co-Founder, Scoop
You have an adorable son with tons of energy, are a full-time investor, and somehow still squeeze in time for the social causes you believe in. What advice can you give about how you find balance in your life, and how important it is to save time for things like fighting climate change?
@jonsadow to be fair, this answer has changed a lot as i've gotten older (going on 18 years now since I started my first company out of Stanford). before i had a beautiful wife and kids the answer was work, work, work, work. What fun I had was usually related to work. Now I'm much more of a believer in work-life balance. Actually one of the interview questions I ask people is what special thing they do that's not related to work. There is a great correlation between driven, curious people that have cool hobbies or pursuits and their success in the workplace. For the past 10 or so years, I've tried to pick a new skill/hobby every year to try something new out and see what stuck. Example of that have included learning to fly small planes, golf (still horrible), Spartan Race (sort of a super cross-fit), writing screenplays, etc. I think important to keep you brain/body fresh for work -- and keeps me much more productive. Sorry for long answer, let's chat about it more offline over a beer!
@daveselinger @jonsadow they are so bad...but the ones i've been working on for a while imagine normal everyday life with a twist or two. for example, what if every human had a tail? LOL, yes i'm serious. how would we interact differently? how would things like doors and windows be designed? what's bedroom etiquette?!?
David Ko
@davidko
With a number of successful investments in the Signa portfolio, what common characteristic do you see across those companies, founders and employees?
Austin Teague
@austin_teague · Full-Stack Marketer and Entrepreneur
@zawthet As an investor how do you find new startups? Specifically is it through referrals, cold emails, specific searches/sites?
@austin_teague combination of all of the above. 85% of the deals I've done as an investor have come through trusted referrals. I'm pretty strategic about building and keeping relationships strong with people that have deep but separate networks. The other 10% is from specific searches for an investment thesis that I might be working on. For example, I've been looking at vertical social networks for the past 2 years trying to find a company that can build something for just for media / entertainment interests. So, in those instances I'm actively contacting companies / entrepreneurs to get to know them better. The last 5 percent is through networking / conferences etc. I may meet a great entrepreneur at a dinner or at a conference and build a relationship from there. I can say with absolute certainty that I have never made an investment from a cold email and never will. I used to try and respond to every cold email I got with at least a "thank, but no thanks" / but my inbox has gotten too crazy for that. So, if you don't know me and you want to...find someone in your network that does know me and get them to introduce you please!
Austin Teague
@austin_teague · Full-Stack Marketer and Entrepreneur
@zawthet Thank you for the feedback. I completely understand your sentiment. This further adds validation to research I've found that investors of all stature within the industry strongly desire to only talk to startups that come recommended from trusted sources.
*Personal plug: my team and I are developing a platform to help investors, like yourself, do your job more efficiently and effectively.*
Thanks again.
Austin Teague
@austin_teague · Full-Stack Marketer and Entrepreneur
@zawthet Thank you. Check out http://Fortuos.io if you're interested in learning more
Brian Gott
@brian_gott
What is your view on investing in pro-social/purpose driven for-profit companies. It that becoming a saturated/over-done market?
@brian_gott i think you can do both...but it doesn't work as well under a current VC structure where all most LPs care about are returns. there are some great purpose-driven investors out there like my buddies at Uprising...and they set it up from the start to be about more than just returns. i think it's actually really hard to find for-profit companies that have a pro-social bent...but when you do they have amazing cultures. our buddy Ido Leffler is one example that has done amazing with this. started two huge consumer brands that both have amazing social impact directly integrated the product.
David Selinger
@daveselinger
@zawthet @brian_gott Couldn't agree more. Do you find that pro-social entrepreneurs know where to go if not here?
Josh Felser
@joshmedia · Cofounder
Why are you so excited about @ApplePiecapital, alt funding for the franchise biz, and whats your take on fintech in general? Disclaimer: we are both co-investors
@joshmedia @applepiecapital fintech is super interesting...and of course we love ApplePie. my biggest issue with the space is the marketing spend that most of the platforms are having to lay out in order to just find people to take their $$$. if you look at LendingClub, SoFi, any of the big guys in the space..they are spending thousands of $$$'s just to get someone to take a loan. in LC's case upwards of 40% of their total revenue. that's a lot...and i'm not sure how sustainable. the banks are not set up to serve these markets...so there is a distinct need for the product, but i worry that we're building something that's going to crash hard in the future. in the ApplePie case, since all the borrowers are franchise owners (and usually own multiple stores), there is no cost to acquire a borrower customer since they come from the corporate partnerships. also these owners typically come back time and time again as they open new stores...so they've solved that origination problem and is probably the biggest reason we decided to invest in a fintech deal even though we'd never done one before. that and the awesome team!
Josh Felser
@joshmedia · Cofounder
@zawthet @applepiecapital totally agree. the marketing piece typically eats up all the capital. Also APC provides significant value add to franchisees, franchisors and lenders, which is hard to do for a triple sided market. :)
@joshmedia @applepiecapital amen brother, amen
Jacqueline von Tesmar
@jacqvon · Community, Product Hunt ✌️😻
What are the first tabs you open on your computer/phone every morning?
Mateen Aini
@mateen_aini · Head of Digital, MRA
What deals aren't you seeing that you wish you saw more of based on trends you believe will be taking off?
@mateen_aini - i think there is going to be a fundamental shift in transportation / automotive. a lot of entrepreneurs have been scared off by uber/lyft and all the $$$ they have raised. that's fair, but there are still huge opportunities out there. we were the largest seed investor in Cruise (which GM has announced they are going to acquire for over $1B) and also the lead investor in Scoop (ride-sharing/commuting platform that serves over 150k employees in Bay Area after only 6 months of beta launch). our infrastructure in the US is broken, highways were built in the 50's before suburbs really started to grow...and mass transit can't find places to lay down tracks. so the only way we're going to fix this is through smart technology...BTW did you see the Tesla 3 pre-orders?!? we've got to find solutions like that which don't contribute to carbon pollution / climate change.