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E772: Investor Outlook: Ben Narasin NEA, Arlan Hamilton Backstage, Zach Coelius Angel Syndicate

2,095 views · Published 25 October 2017 · 44:26 · Indexed 25 October 2026

Channel: This Week in Startups · 2017 · Education

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Pure hustle, tireless fighting, and (sometimes) unadulterated dumb luck are just a few of the reasons why this star investor panel has succeeded when others have failed. Filmed at LAUNCH SCALE 2017, Ben Narasin (NEA), Arlan Hamilton (Backstage Capital) & Zach Coelius (Angel, Syndicate Lead) share what motivates them to make bets, the specific qualities in founders they come back to again and again, lessons from 80+ investments w/50% Series A conversations & 3 unicorns (Ben), from selling candy to building a portfolio of 55+ startups (Arlan), to hitting a $1b exit in just 2 years as an angel (Zach), and market outlook for 2017 and beyond.

Timestamps

0:30 Jason Introduces Ben Narasin (NEA), Arlan Hamilton (Backstage Capital), Zach Coelius (Angel Syndicate)

1:51 [Jason to Ben] What is SoftBank?

3:06 [Jason to Ben] Why did you join NEA? (New Enterprise Associates)

4:02 [Jason to Ben] What does it mean to be a Venture Partner v. General Partner?

4:53 Introduction to Arlan Hamilton from Backstage Capital. 

6:27 [Jason to Arlan] How did you get the inspiration to start a Venture Capital firm? 

08:25 [Jason to Arlan] What is your background? Arlan’s formative years, sometimes without electricity, ignited her entrepreneurial bug. 

10:08 Thank you to our friends at Capterra. http://capterra.com/twist  

11:12 Introduction to Zach Coelius. 

12:06 [Jason to Zach] What is an AngelList Fund?

13:34 [Jason to Zach] What kind of companies do you invest in on AngelList?

14:50 [Jason to Arlan] What stage are you looking at to invest in startups? 

16:00 [Jason to Arlan] How do you respond to your fund being called an ‘impact fund”?

18:00 [Jason to Ben] What were the reasons behind having 50% of your early investments making it to Series A?

22:13 The only thing more important than money to an Entrepreneur. 

22:48 Thank you Squarespace for supporting TWiST. Go to http://squarespace.com for a free trial, then use the promo code: “twist” to save 10% off your first purchase.

24:13 [Jason to Arlan] What have you learned from your first 55 investments?

26:00 Zach Coelius describes a tense situation with an early investor in his company. 

30:12 Zach Coelius: Don’t piss off anyone, they could turn out to be the next Mark Zuckerberg.

30:52 [Jason to Ben] What is your outlook on the market? And what percentage of your net worth is in cash v. stocks? 

33:26 Ben Narasin on what he learned from starting one of his earliest companies during a stock market crash. 

34:44 [Jason to Arlan] Have you considered doing an AngelList syndicate? 

35:57 Arlan Hamilton explains her plan for what Backstage 2.0.

39:40 Question for Zach Coelius: How do you determine the “first smoke” of a product market fit?

40:27 Zach Coelius explains his “brick” metaphor about Product-Market-Fit. (Jason is confused.)

41:44 Question #2: How do we break through the fear of healthcare education?

44:08 Thank you to Arlan, Ben, and Zach for this amazing panel!

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