Communication

I live in email and treat it like IM.  Please don’t be offended by brevity and terse emails.  I do not respond to every email.

Please don’t call, text, or dm.  z@coelius.vc

Email is also my todo list. If we talk about something and you want me to do it please send me a reminder.

If you don’t hear back from me within a few days, feel free to bump the thread once.

I do my own scheduling and generally suck at it. If we don’t set up a calendar invite there is a good chance I totally forget about it.  

I try to ignore my email on the weekends. Try being the operative word.  

I read all my Twitter and Linkedin DMs. I rarely respond.

I practice double opt-in introductions unless it is an intro to someone truly amazing where the fit is perfect.  Please do the same for me.

I can be truly incompetent about trivial things. I am absent minded. I have ADD and it is legit.

I work in SF.

Meetings

I live by the Warren Buffet school of meetings and try to avoid having them.

I quite dislike setting up a call or meeting to “chat” without an agenda.

You might find me rude if I refuse a meeting or ask to do it over email. Sorry. I am just trying to save us both wasted time.

Investing

Ideas are meaningless.  Validated ideas are priceless.  

I generally invest in B2B or B2B2C companies.  I rarely do anything in consumer, but I occasionally break that rule.  Here is my portfolio. 

I don’t invest in crypto, hard sciences, bio, chips, chemistry or really any sector where my lack of a Bayesian base set of knowledge would be material.

Please send me a deck, a summary or at least a paragraph first. I use these to make sure we are not wasting each other’s time.  

I like weird ideas.  Please feel free to forward me anything as long as the founders are competent.

I spend the vast majority of my time looking at seed deals where I invest $200k-$2m, but I do invest into later stages where my checks can be as much as $5m+.  

As an entrepreneur I pitched hundreds of investors. Much of that time was wasted. The goal is to not repeat that.

My favorite entrepreneurs are those who love being told how their baby is ugly and hearing ideas to make it better.  My least favorite take it personally.

I find that canned pitches don’t seem to work for me. Let’s just have a conversation about your business.  Please send a deck before we talk.  

Personal

I try to suck a little less every day.

If I am a jerk, do something dumb or generally seem oblivious, please please please let me know. I often have no clue. Your feedback is priceless and I love it.  

Links

Twitter:  I use this a lot and it is a great place to connect

Linkedin: I only connect with folks who I have actually met

Angellist Syndicate: I welcome all backers and there is no obligation to invest

Rolling Fund: Invest with me on a quarterly basis. Leave whenever you want