On the TechTO stage ×1
First seen on the TechTO stage in 2021. Every talk is searchable — ask the archive about Arjun ↗
In their words
I invested all my capital, and I remember at this time an angel investment check could be $5,000. A $25,000 check was a big check for me at that time, given that that's all the money I had in my bank account.
There was no framework for revenue scale growth. A lot of it was: do I like the idea, do I like the product? So it's product, team, market and distribution. Distribution is something I added later.
I think the biggest mistake I made is not investing in every single company that I had met from 2007 to 2011. Those are all great vintages.
More from TechTO ×1
Around the web ×2
Quick answers
Who is Arjun Sethi?
Co-founder and chairman of Tribe Capital, the San Francisco venture firm he started in 2018 with Jonathan Hsu and Ted Maidenberg. He has been co-CEO of the crypto exchange Kraken since October 2024, having sat on its board since 2021. Earlier he was a partner at Social Capital and an executive at Yahoo.
Why did he start angel investing?
To learn. He told TechTO he invested in companies whose founders were slightly ahead of him operationally, because the coaches and advisors available to him had built in the 1990s and early 2000s and could not speak to how fast products were being shipped and decisions made at the time.
What was his early investment framework?
Product, team, market — and later distribution. He said on the TechTO stage on 2021-01-22 that he had no revenue or growth framework at the start, and that his biggest mistake was not investing in every company he met between 2007 and 2011.