At the seed stage, you're not investing in a product — you're investing in the people who will inevitably change that product six times before they find something that works. That makes team evaluation the single most important skill in early-stage angel investing.
Here's how I think about it.
The three things I'm actually measuring
Every founder evaluation comes down to three dimensions:
1. Ability to execute Can they ship? Do they move fast? When something breaks, do they fix it or do they form a committee? Early-stage companies die from inertia. I want founders who bias hard toward action.
2. Domain depth Do they understand their problem better than I do after 10 minutes of conversation? Deep domain knowledge compounds — it produces better product decisions, faster pattern recognition, and credibility with customers. Founders without it can catch up, but it takes time they often don't have.
3. Self-awareness This one is underrated. Founders who know exactly what they don't know are far easier to back than founders who have convinced themselves they've already figured everything out. The honest ones attract better advisors, make smarter hires, and pivot faster when the evidence demands it.
The reference call
One of the most useful things you can do is ask founders for references — not the ones they volunteer, but the ones you find yourself. Reach out to former colleagues, early customers, co-founders of companies they've worked alongside. The questions are simple:
- "How did they handle a situation where things were going wrong?"
- "Would you work with or for them again?"
- "What would make you hesitate to back them?"
You'll learn more in 10 minutes of an honest reference call than in an hour of pitch meetings.
Red flags I've learned to take seriously
- Vague answers about why they left their last role. This usually means either a conflict or a lack of commitment.
- Founders who can't articulate what they've learned from their failures. Everyone fails. The question is whether they're paying attention.
- A team that's never worked under pressure together. Friends-who-had-an-idea is a very different dynamic from colleagues-who-shipped-something-hard.
The question I always end with
"What's the most important thing you've changed your mind about in the last six months?"
A great answer tells you they're learning. A non-answer tells you they're not.