The one trait this investor refuses to fund
Five takeaways from a founder and investor: when raising is the wrong move, the trait he refuses to fund, and why you should never guard your network.
Ruben Austin came to the US from Germany to play American football, became a founder because he needed a visa, and built and sold one of the early influencer marketplaces before most people used the word. He has sat on the investor side of the table, and today he runs All in All, a referral-only leadership network, and is a co-founder of Origin, an immersive yoga brand.
Here are the five ideas I keep coming back to from our conversation
1. Most founders should never raise money.
This is the line he is bluntest about, and he has earned the right to say it from both sides of the check. Ruben thinks many founders could build a great small or medium business and make real money without the risk venture brings. He understands the pull: raising is “really sexy,” a “stamp of approval.” His warning is about the treadmill underneath it. “Statistically, most companies fail when you go the venture route,” and “once you start raising, you’re constantly raising,” because every round exists to chase a return for the last one.
Try this: Decide your endgame before you decide your funding.
From Ruben: a profitable company at five million in revenue, sold for three or four times, can return more to a founder who owns most of it than a hundred-million valuation where you own twenty percent.
2. Coachability is what he screens for. He calls the lack of it “founder syndrome.”
“I call it founder syndrome,” Ruben says. “It’s if you don’t take constructive criticism.” For him it is the clearest red flag in a founder, the one who “thinks too much about the idea that they had.” He is unsparing about it: “That’s a poison pill. I would never invest into someone like that.” He grants the rare exceptions, the Jobs and Musk figures “so psychotic about their approach” that they take down walls, then puts them at “the 0.01%.” The everyday tell is quieter. “People take everything as a personal attack.”
Try this: Name the one decision you are most certain about right now, take it to the person least embedded in your work, and ask them the question Ruben leans on: what am I not seeing here.
**Notice the urge to defend, then stay in the question for a few moments before you answer.
3. Being better at an existing idea is a real strategy.
“I don’t think every founder needs to reinvent the wheel,” Ruben says. He points to Liquid Death, which “rebranded the way we look at water,” and to the Rocket Internet playbook of taking a proven US model to Europe (HelloFresh after Blue Apron). The edge can live in customer experience, a better product, or a better service. “If you can have the same idea and just be better at it, then you can be extremely successful too.”
Try this: List three companies you admire in your category and name the single dimension (experience, product, price, service) where each is weakest. The gap they share is your opening.
4. A room full of the same people is a fragile company.
Ruben has had exactly one company fail, and he is precise about why: “There was too many of the same people in the room. So it wasn’t agile enough.” Technical founders can build the thing, and you still need someone who sells it, someone who drives the business, someone who runs marketing. He is honest that he still catches himself running QuickBooks and social when “it’s not my subject matter expertise.” A team built around distinct roles is also a signal to investors that serious people are taking a chance on you. “Whatever you can delegate, I think that’s what you should be doing.”
Try this: Write the four or five hats your company actually needs worn, then mark the ones you are wearing only because no one else is. Those are your first delegations.
5. Don’t guard your network.
His closing nugget, and the principle his whole business runs on. The only reason Ruben withholds an introduction is that he does not yet know someone well enough to be sure it helps both sides. Past that bar, “I would never say no, never.” His logic is that value he creates for two other people comes back to him. The same instinct shaped how he hosts: a strict no-soliciting rule at member events, because “something really special happens when you can’t talk about business,” and relationships that close over a home-cooked meal rather than another Michelin dinner. “If I add value to both parties, that will come directly back to me.”
Try this: Make one introduction this week that you have been sitting on, where both sides would genuinely benefit, and send it before either of them asks.
P.S. What is one decision you are certain about right now, and who could you hand it to this week to poke holes in? Hit reply, I read every response.
Work with me
I’m Dar Patel, a ICF-certified executive coach (PCC), I have worked with founders and executives, and am the writer behind The Inner Game, the weekly newsletter of Little Pursuits.
My goal is to support founders, executives, and individuals doing one of the hardest things we can do: build and scale something from the ground up.
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Which of these takeaways is staying with you?