EP 15: Greg Brown, Why Investors Have to be Comfortable with Failure

by Alexis Carreiro | Jan 14, 2020 | Episodes

Greg Brown is President and Owner of Cardinal Finance which provides fractional CFO and other financial advisory services to small and mid-sized businesses. He is also the Administrator of Charlotte Angel Fund, one of the most active angel investor funds in North Carolina. Greg has served as the Chief Financial Officer of multiple venture capital backed private and early stage public companies, and has ten years of experience in

the venture capital industry. His career has been devoted to serving entrepreneurs and the companies that they create as a trusted business partner and investor.

In this episode, we discuss:

The biggest challenge for growing the entrepreneurial scene in Charlotte
The biggest financial mistakes he often sees start-ups make
Why his advice to “go get a no” is a great “Fun with Failure” challenge!
Why investors have to be comfortable with failure
Why investments fail: wrong idea, wrong people, and/or wrong time
What the Charlotte Angel Fund is — and the types of companies they usually invest in
How the Charlotte Angel Fund is a “participatory group”
Why they’re opening the doors to their monthly meeting for Seed the South in January 2020
How to be transparent when talking to an investor
Why they start the post-pitch discussion with “let’s talk about why we should invest” — instead of “why we shouldn’t”
Why the Charlotte Angel Fund isn’t usually “the lead investor”
Why you should never present your “emailed” pitch deck in person
Why he looks for “diversity” on the team of a start-up

QUOTES:

His definition of failure: “Not reaching the objective of the activity.”
On pricing your product: “If you’ve never heard anyone say ‘no’ because of price, your price isn’t high enough… If you’ve never heard ‘no’ solely based on price, you don’t know where your price point is.”
His advice on pitching investors: “Practice, practice, practice. And practice with people who don’t know your business or don’t know you. You have to be able to convey your story to people who don’t know your industry.”
On how NOT to pitch: “Please don’t do your 5 minute pitch by doing your 10 minute pitch… but speaking faster.”