GrowLab's Jason Bailey on Angel Investing
The Vancouver Enterprise Forum hosted their annual Angel Investing panel discussion last night and it was a sold out affair.
BC's 2011 Angel Investor of the Year Boris Wertz moderated a panel that included Initio Group's Mike Edwards, Eastside Games' Jason Bailey, Scenario Creation's Paul Antoniadis, and Seattle superangel Geoff Entress.
While the entire event was informative for wanna-be angels and entrepreneurs looking to raise, Jason Bailey delivered a constant stream of sound bites that had the audience giggling out loud.
Bailey founded SuperRewards and two years later sold it to AdKnowledge for rumoured $50 Million. He is currently CEO of East Side Games and a Founder & Partner of Vancouver startup accelerator GrowLab.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from Vancouver's most honest angel investor who is known for his direct feedback.
On himself: I have a very limited vocabulary, I have very limited tech skills, I've never raised any money from a VC but I'm currently building my fifth business that generates more than $1 Million per quarter through nothing but balls and not knowing any better, not knowing that I couldn't.
On what he invests in: I invest in companies that are run by people I like, with people I can drink beer with, people who I feel like I can spend a fair amount of time with and will spend a lot of time with to really make a difference in their business.
On his previous business SuperRewards: It's the company that monetizes and destroyed Facebook for you - you can thank me for that.
On his average investment size: I'm a chicken-shit too, I'm scared to write big cheques and so I'm still kind of figuring it out.
On what he looks for: The most important thing I look for in any company and whether they're going to be successful is whether they are backed by people how can sit down shut up and build shit. If three business guys come in and talk about how they want to raise this money and they have this great product idea, but none of they can build anything, they're wasting their time. Get out the door. You need to be able to build something and stand behind it.
On what he likes: I love everything unless it's a deal of the day site, then I'll punch you in the face.
On getting multiple VCs co-investing in your startup: You should be so lucky. Vancouver is very different than the Valley or even Montreal or especially New York. It's a very, very different scene here in Vancouver where there is a very limited number of funds and a very limited number of angel investors - we're all sitting up on a panel here.
In addition to his participation in GrowLab portfolio companies, Bailey is also invested in Playerize, Foodtree, and HighScore House.
