A riddle wrapped inside of an enigma. Who is this guy and what is his endgame? The first time I met him I was surprised to feel the realization that his reputation may have built on smoke, mirrors, and—as another reviewer mentioned—seemingly propped up by his twitter follower numbers. I mean, he's even given private classes on growing your Twitter following and how to tweet to optimize for engagement. To state the facts, Erik really doesn't have enough experience himself as an operator to be an effective investor to a founder. Can he introduce you to literally every other Silicon Valley investor and some Product Hunt alumni? Sure. But where does that get you? Perhaps the ability to impress a few first-time founders and young twitterati by namedropping the hypebeast investor on your cap table. The more time I spent around him, the more I realized that there's significantly little value he could bring besides the check. So, seeing an opportunity, and even being a chosen member in one of his 'communities', I reached out to pitch him at my early stage... and got the ghost, twice. He's hired a few bright folks to build a unique community with OnDeck but I just fail to see much else. This is business, not a reality show. 3/10, do not recommend.

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

7

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.