As you get further along in your investing career:
VCs will start to ping you for hot takes on founders or companies they’re looking at.
They might be trying to get a read on the sector where that company’s operating.
Or sometimes they’ll want to get a quick read on the founder.
One of these emails came to me from a Silicon Valley VC a while back.
Here’s actually how a “hot take” due diligence email reads:
Made a couple of changes (names, etc) to keep it anonymous.
I hope reading this helps you come up with your own ‘hot take’ email …
… that you can use in your own due diligence processes.
Hi John –
We are in the process of looking into MegaDunks as a potential early stage investment. They are building an email marketing platform for basketball teams that integrates with the NBA’s systems.
I noticed you are connected to James Harden, one of the founders and their CEO.
If you have some time today or tomorrow, I would love to get your thoughts on James via email or over the phone if that is easier.
Basically looking for your thoughts on him around:
– Overall impression / thoughts
– Ability to really understand his customers and hustle to serve them well
– Intelligence level, both (a) technically and (b) from a commercialization perspective (e.g. would you put him in top 25%? Top 10%? or Top 1%) and (c) adaptability
– Any red flags or things to watch out for
