Meet our Head of Startup Relations: Jake Fox

We sat down with our Head of Startup Relations, Jake Fox, to share some insights about his experience and role at South East Angels.

Q: What has your career journey looked like to date?

Began in strategy consulting helping companies navigate new territories, new technologies and new consumer trends, I did this whilst gaining my Masters in Economics and Finance for Development.

From there I got the itch to begin working in startups: I founded a Sportstech company, worked in growth roles for a consumer experience startup and a Proptech startup before founding Paperound - a career development platform helping students pick up ad-hoc tech work with SMEs, which I ran for two years before joining South East Angels.

Q: What has it been like making the switch to the other side of the table (Founder to Investor…)?

As a founder you are almost locked in a silo, focused on moving forward with no way to judge how well you are doing compared to other startups and whether you are making the right decisions. You don’t see what else is out there, and how other people are approaching problems. It’s like a narrow swimming lane, barely lifting your head up to look around.

On the investor side, you get to see the whole pool. And see where some founders excel in one area, they are struggling in others. You also get to see how ‘progress’ really isn’t everything in the early stages - where some startups might be further ‘back’, but building something with much more potential or a more sound model for scaling.

Q: What does an average day in the life of a Head of Startup Relations look like?

My role is split across three areas, and I work on all of them every day:

1. Evaluating startups, which includes going through pitch deck materials, doing my own research and speaking to lots of founders.

2. Curating pitch events that are tailored to the interests of our members and facilitating connections with founders.

3. Building and supporting ecosystem - I regularly connect, support and work with other organisations that are supporting founders, particularly in the South East.

Q: What are the 3 most important things you look for when reviewing startups?

1. Founder characteristics
The founders themselves, and how they respond in a conversation. Angels are backing a business in the earliest stages, joining something that might last 10 years. We need to know we are backing an individual who: knows what they don’t know, is driven, and is adaptable.

2. 5x solution
Unfortunately in startup world, just being ‘good’ isn’t actually enough. Startups that make real progress and have most opportunity to scale as those that are doing something multiple times better than the existing solution. So, is it a 5x solution?

3. Unit economics
In the early stages it’s fine that you may be finding your customers via very experimental channels. But looking ahead to when you start to scale, there needs to be a narrative that you will be able to find and acquire customers for less than they will pay you for your product/service. 

Q: What is your biggest bugbear when it comes to pitch decks?

If after going through a handful of slides that are meant to explain your product, I’m not confident on what the product actually does, this is a bad sign. It shows you haven’t yet figured out how to explain how you can help, and why this solution is the right one. If you can’t explain that to me, it indicates you’ll struggle to explain it to customers. 

Q: From your experience, what’s your #1 tip to founders on their entrepreneurial journey?

Break all your objectives down into things you are trying to prove.

Focus on gaining proof that: you are building the right thing, someone will pay for this product, it beats everything else in your segment, it could be acquired. When you start to find proof to questions like these, you build something investable and scalable.