Ep 40: Mikko Silventola
on being first to invest in Bolt, courage to back founders from faraway markets and basics of angel investing
Mikko Silventola is a Finnish angel investor currently based in Zug, Switzerland who has invested in more than 50 companies globally with gems such as Bolt & Hugo among his most successful investments. He is also a venture partner at Superangel and Frontier Nordic.
On this episode we discuss all things angel investing, including starting up, basic skills, investing principles, best pitching practices, red flags and many more key aspects to being a successful angel investor. We also talk more in detail about Mikko becoming the first investor of Bolt and conquering Latin America with Hugo (3 years from investment to exit).
CLICK one of the links below to listen to the episode
The topics covered in this episode (with Timestamps)
🔈 [01:50] INTRO, BECOMING AN ANGEL INVESTOR
Building on own entrepreneurship experience
Angel investing as a “full-time job”
🔈 [04:25] ON ANGEL INVESTING BASICS
How does one start angel investing
Investing as headhunting
Starting capital required
Availability of investment opportunities for small tickets
Does valuation matter in the earliest stages?
Getting into global deal flow
🔈 [14:30] - STORY ON MIKKO’S INVESTMENT & EXIT INTO HUGO
Investing in an exotic/remote country in Latin America
From investment to exit in 3 years
🔈 [18:40] - ON INVESTING PRINCIPLES
Factors in founder evaluation
Communication with founding teams
Red flags in founders
Using your network to evaluate deals
🔈 [24:40] - ON BEST PITCHING PRACTICES
The type of Founders that know how to pitch
50/50 appeal ratio
Some extreme cases
🔈 [26:55] - ON INVESTING IN COMPANIES FROM MORE EXOTIC COUNTRIES
Freedom of angel investing to make riskier bets
Founders from Latin America
Doing business trips to nice places
🔈 [28:50] - ON WHAT FOUNDERS LOOK FOR IN INVESTORS
Track record
Fundraising capability
Don’t waste their time
Focus on the winners
🔈 [30:45] - ON BECOMING THE FIRST INVESTOR IN BOLT
Pro-active investing approach
Helping the founders when all VCs said no
What Mikko saw in the opportunity
What the founders of Bolt are building
Why it's easier to deals with Estonians than anyone else
🔈 [39:40] - HOW TO FIND TIME TO DO MORE
Meditate for 25 min per day and if you don’t have time - then mediate for 45 min per day
Keep your priorities straight
Proper stress management, sleep and nutrition
To reach out to Mikko use:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikkosilventola/
Support for this episode comes from Nexpay > https://paynexpay.com/
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The full interview with Mikko is available NOW on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts
