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Vice clauses prohibit many institutional investors from supporting companies in industries like gambling, alcohol, and cannabis. So, founders in these verticals often look to angel investors when they’re raising. Let's face it: vice companies can bring in a ton of revenue. After all, people can’t live without [insert vice of your vice of choice], right? So I wanted to know: what’s it like for the founders who are building these businesses? And what signals should early-stage investors look for when deciding whether or not to invest in a vice company? To answer this question, I interviewed David Hua, co-founder of Meadow.

Lifetime value measures the total revenue you make from each customer over the lifetime of the relationship.

As an early-stage investor, the lead investor's term sheet will impact you and your shares. This article covers the three most important things you should know about how a lead investor can affect you and what you can do about it.

SPVs are formed to bring multiple investors together to form a company. How does it work, and why invest through an SPV instead of directly?

Imagine getting pitched by a company that, on paper, is doing great. Solid growth, proven founder, and the company has found product/market fit. But you had to invest on an uncapped note. We break down what this is and why every early-stage investor should know about this.

Annual recurring revenue is a metric used for SaaS companies to normalize revenue on an annual basis. It's a key growth metric as an angel investor if you ask a few key questions to understand how a company is making money (and creating their forecast).

Cost of goods sold is how much it costs to make a product or service.

A founder pitches you an interesting idea but gets rejected at first impression. But what if you wanted to dig deeper to see if this would actually work? Here are the questions we recommend asking to determine if this is worth pursuing.

When you invest in early-stage companies, the cycle from investment to exit will take years. So how do you know what your weaknesses are, and if you're improving as an investor? Here are two ways to get valuable feedback.

How do you evaluate an early-stage company when you don't have a personal relationship with the founder? When all you have is a deck and a deal memo? Two words: Market pull.

Imagine you are approached by an early stage startup founder who wants to raise money. She has no revenue or metrics. How do you evaluate the company without any KPIs? Start with these two questions.

George Clooney co-founded Casamigos tequila in 2013 with two friends on an investment of roughly $600,000. Four years later Diageo bought it for $700 million cash and up to $300 million more in performance payments. Clooney's personal take was approximately $230 million. It is one of the cleanest celebrity-brand investment stories in history.

Pharrell Williams produces hit records, designs shoes with Adidas, runs Billionaire Boys Club, created the Humanrace skincare brand, launched the Joopiter digital auction platform, became Louis Vuitton's creative director of menswear, and co-invested in a historic Paris hotel in 2024. His investments form one of the more coherent creative ecosystems any musician has built.