251. Funding the Misunderstood Technical Founder, Self Evaluation as a Solo Capitalist, and Capital to Underwrite R&D risk vs. S&M risk (Farooq Abbasi)

Farooq Abbasi of Preface Ventures joins Nick to discuss Funding the Misunderstood Technical Founder, Self Evaluation as a Solo Capitalist, and Capital to Underwrite R&D risk vs. S&M risk. In this episode, we cover: Walk us through your background and path to VC Why did you launch Preface? What's the thesis at Preface? How do you define enterprise/infrastructure frontier enterprise? What's most different about your approach? Are the businesses you fund created and ideated by the founders or is it a collaboration between you and the founders or do you take concepts and bring them to future founders? What's your approach to sourcing? Because your model is different and the founder profile is a bit different than most...  in what unique ways do you provide value post-investment? You're a solo-capitalist...  How do you evaluate yourself and keep some checks/balances on your decisions? Did you put together an LPAC -- if so how big is the group, how often do you meet and when/where do they help? Are you actively investing in open-source startups? What are your thoughts on the Bifurcation in the VC industry... capital underwriting of R&D risk vs. S&M risk? What are your thoughts on biases in founder selection, data-driven predictors of founder success? What's been the greatest challenge in your VC career and how have you overcome it? You’re passionate about Diversity, having founded Diversity.vc in 2016. How are you practicing a more inclusive style of venture capital? Three data points...  hypothetical investment scenario