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As a Shark Tank investor, Allison Ellsworth avoids founders fixated on metrics like ROAS and KPIs. Instead, she looks for brand builders who focus on creating disruption and connecting with their community, not just optimizing for customers. This prioritizes long-term brand equity over short-term performance marketing.
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Forget the unicorn obsession. Focus on building an “elephant”: a durable company defined by three traits. 1) Community Obsessive (customers are “members”). 2) Purpose-Driven (changing an industry, not adding a feature). 3) Building in Public (founder is the face). This framework prioritizes resilience and cult-like followings over vanity metrics.
While a personal brand is valuable long-term, it has a high opportunity cost for new businesses. Founders with limited resources may achieve faster results by focusing on direct outreach first, and only investing heavily in content and branding once they have more traction.
Working for a founder who understands marketing (e.g., a former CMO) creates a high-trust environment. This empowers marketing teams to invest in long-term brand building and creative initiatives that are notoriously hard to attribute, without being handcuffed by demands to prove the ROI of every dollar spent.
Value-add isn't a pitch deck slide. Truly helpful investors are either former operators who can empathize with the 0-to-1 struggle, or they actively help you get your first customers. They are the first call in a crisis or the ones who will vouch for you on a reference call when you have no other credibility.
VCs with operational backgrounds value execution over credentials. They screen for founders who show an instinct to act and build immediately, such as launching a splash page to test demand, before raising capital. This "dirt under the fingernails" is a stronger signal than pedigree.
The "build it and they will come" mindset is a trap. Founders should treat marketing and brand-building not as a later-stage activity to be "turned on," but as a core muscle to be developed in parallel with the product from day one.
Rather than trying to predict which founders will succeed, veteran investor Ariel Poler optimizes for personal growth and impact. His criteria: work with good people on interesting projects where he can learn and contribute. He accepts that many will fail, viewing the experience and relationships as valuable outcomes.
Don't get distracted by the vague goal of "achieving product-market fit." Instead, focus on tangible, measurable signals of traction: Are people buying the product? Is the messaging resonating? Do you have the right sales funnel? These concrete metrics provide actionable feedback that leads to success.
When interviewing, ask founders about their perspective on long-term brand investments versus short-term pipeline goals. Their answer reveals if they understand marketing's true value beyond being a sales support function, indicating the strategic role you'll be allowed to play.
Founders often believe fundraising failure stems from a lack of connections. However, for early-stage consumer brands with low sales figures, the real barrier is insufficient traction data. VCs need proof of scalability, like a major distribution deal, before they will invest, regardless of the introduction.
