VC Backs AI Firm: 2 Red Flags in Founders
- One successful angel investor has revealed two red flags that prevent him from investing in a founder in the first meeting.
- Carles Reina is an angel investor who backed voice cloning AI startup Eleven Labs when it was still in its very early stages in 2022.
- In september, the company announced it was letting employees sell shares at a $6.6 billion valuation.
“`html
Angel Investor Reveals 2 Red Flags That Immediately Deter Investment
One successful angel investor has revealed two red flags that prevent him from investing in a founder in the first meeting.
Carles Reina is an angel investor who backed voice cloning AI startup Eleven Labs when it was still in its very early stages in 2022. the firm was co-founded by Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dąbkowski, and raised $180 million at a valuation of $3.3 billion in its Series C funding earlier this year.
In september, the company announced it was letting employees sell shares at a $6.6 billion valuation. Reina is now a vice president of revenue at the AI firm.
When Reina first met eleven Lab’s co-founder Staniszewski,he told CNBC Make it that nobody wanted to invest in voice AI at the time.However, Reina decided to take a chance on Eleven Labs after just one meeting.
“We started talking, and within 30 minutes of the first conversation, I told him, ‘How much money do you want?'” Reina shared.
He explained that the first meeting is critical when making a decision and Staniszewski displayed certain traits that attracted him as an investor.
“If the first signs are just not there, I usually don’t want to waste anyone’s time… I think you end up optimizing always for high quality interactions, [it’s] like you’re trying to triage if this is something that you really like and that you want to spend more time with the founders