Startup Scrutinizing Secrets of “Super Angel” Jeff Clavier

SoftTech VC’s founder and managing partner Jeff Clavier knows how to pick a winner.

New angels may ask: How does this super angel weed out the roses from the thorns amongst all ‘em seemingly promising web companies?

To Clavier, startup executives who can’t prove their healthy team dynamics probably won’t make the cut.

In a candid interview with VentureBeat at the recent CEO Accelerator Summit, Clavier shared all about his preference for startups with strong team dynamics.

Like most investors, Clavier said he prefers a team of 2 or 3, and he likes to observe the dynamics of the team, whether the team is a “good mix” and how well team members “gel”.

“Many times, when one digs deep, one sees that the better members of the team often have silenced doubts or reservations about the less/least capable one.”

And in his years of experience Clavier has learned not to invest in a team that shows the slightest possibility of a dysfunction or mismatch.

Clavier said, aside from having team members with silenced reservations who put the proverbial spanner in the company works, teams who

• have chosen the wrong cofounder;
• have skimped on legal advice or picked a bad lawyer; and/or
• haven’t sorted out things like equity division or member responsibilities at pitch point

are also to be avoided.

Show the Pink Slip

Clavier has honed his ability to pick out a team that works cooperatively and efficiently so well that he can usually smell a rat before the pitch session is through.

But if by some chance he has already invested in the company before noticing team troubles, he pointed out that it is the role of the investor to do the necessary firing “as humanely as possible”.

“The investor has to effect change somehow,” Clavier said.

“The first step is to have a ‘gentle discussion’ — which is actually a warning.”

Reality Bites

Clavier also gives founders who demand luxurious startup salaries a wide berth – taking their unrealistic demands as a sign that they’re not committed enough to the startup.

“People always want to make similar sums to what they made at their previous jobs. Founders need to know that you won’t get rich on salary. That’s why they’re in a start up. It’s a choice they made,” he said.

And on the flipside, Clavier said savvy startups will likely research and even make contact with an investor’s past company failures as part of their own due diligence into the best angel choice for their project, telling Marshall, “to do due diligence on a VC or angel, founders should research/call one of its portfolio companies that flopped in the past”.

Something to keep in mind – angels used to doing all of the watching over should always remember that they may also be judged from afar by the next big thing.