A lead investor needs deep conviction in you and your company, then uses their reputation or expertise to convince others to follow. They typically write the largest check and act as social proof. Since firms invest in only 1 out of 1,000 deals they see, you need to become irresistible.
So the first trait of a lead investor is they will believe in you to death. They should. It's all about conviction. If he doesn't believe in you, he's not going to invest. And there are, there are a lot of people who will believe in you to the extent that if somebody else invests, I'll invest, but that's not the conviction that you're looking for in your lead investor. Your lead investor is the person who's going to start the movement, who's going to— from an investor's perspective. So you look at this line, because of that conviction, that lead investor becomes your social proof. That first person, the blue guy, is your lead investor. There was no line before he showed up. Or she, but once that person shows up, people start lining up. That's your social proof. That's your credibility. And why does a lead investor bring credibility? Because of one of many things. One, he or she could be an expert in the domain you're in. Two, that person has a reputation or track record of doing great things in that domain. Or is a celebrity, right? Just people just follow whatever he or she does. So find that person who ultimately can be that lead. This person will also usually be the largest check in your round. This goes back to my first comment. Investors are looking for the right opportunities, and when they find one, they behave like this guy. Right? Because they won't find a lot of great opportunities. I mean, I don't know if John, you keep any stats, but chances are you see 1,000 deals and you find 3 that you get really excited about, like I hit a jackpot here. Yeah, our estimates for, uh, just, I'll take that aside. Our estimates for Expansive is that we'll invest in 1 out of every 1,000 deals that we see. So to make him feel like this guy, like I just hit a jackpot, you You gotta be that 1 out of 1,000, right? And if you are not that, you waste a lot of time meeting a lot of people who keep telling you, okay, this is interesting, come back to me when you have this, right? That usually means you're not irresistible right now.
