Time to value
Tech investors talk about adding value to startups all the time but we should be talking about time to value instead.
Startups move at astronomical speeds. Time is compressed. One month in a startup is equivalent to 1 year anywhere else. One year is an eternity. A lot can happen.
Investors need to operate at the same wavelength and speed as early-stage founders. Help and intros must have happened yesterday, not 3-5 weeks from now. Product feedback, design partner introductions, chat/email responses, etc should be done as quickly as possible.
What Sam talks about below should also apply to startup investors.
Sam Altman recently did an interview where Tyler Cowan asked, "How quickly should someone answer your email to count as quick and decisive?"
Sam's answer: "You know, years ago I wrote a little program to look at this, like how quickly our best founders — the founders that run billion-plus companies — answer my emails versus our bad founders. I don’t remember the exact data, but it was mind-blowingly different. It was a difference of minutes versus days on average response times."
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Also a major difference between "how can I be helpful?" non-participants vs. passive "tell me how to speak about what you do" vs. active partnership investors in helping create that value. Anyone can provide capital.