Adam Cochran is an experienced founder with two exits in the ad-tech and marketing space. In his background in management consulting (focused on growth, brand and market strategy) Adam has done work for and consulted for multiple fast growing startups like WordPress, Reddit and DuckDuckGo, as well as for Fortune 500 brands like General Motors, Chase Bank, Home Depot and FedEx.Adam also works as a professor of business analysis where his work has focused on measuring potential and risk for businesses that are pre-cash flow. Adam brings this level of rigor to his startup investing performing deep market analysis and due diligence on each company he invests in. This has allowed his personal portfolio to see a 3.2x (unrealized) growth in 3 years.Adam's syndicate will focus on bringing this same level of analysis to each opportunity he invests in, while investments may vary they will meet some basic investment criteria:

• A) They will be disruptive technologies that meet one of the following criteria:

1. Create new blue ocean markets entirely.
2. Reduce market cost by at least an order of magnitude in a manner defensible by technology, patent or vertical integration.
3. Amplify business output by at least an order of magnitude in a manner defensible by technology, patent, vertical integration or network effect.
4. Add network effect or switching-debt to a product or service to reduce churn by an order of magnitude.

• B) Have a product team that meets at least three of the following criteria:

1. Have brought an early stage product to market previously.
2. Have deep scientific knowledge about the field in a manner that is academically and peer-reviewed.
3. Have deep industry experience in a commercial setting as the buyer/consumer of the good/service. (They understand the buyers real problem, not just a precised problem).
4. Have deep industry contacts from previous work in this industry.
5. Have run a tangentially related business previously.
6. Have unique access to suppliers or buyers in the industry in a manner that is defensible.

• C) Have a product or service that meets three of the following criteria:

1. Can provably show a consumer satisfaction rating with emotional attributes in excess of 80%.
2. Has validated the product via sign-ups, waiting lists, or letters of intent.
3. Has a product that can be experienced today in a polished state.
4. The product is intuitive to navigate, use, or implement for even the most non-tech-savy users in the target demographic.
5. The product has a brand with clear, concise messaging, vision and emotional resonance, and that branding is easily picked up and retained by users throughout the products use.
6. The product has clear network effects or viral loops contributing to steady growth.

• D) The brand, marketing and growth team meet the following criteria:

1. Has an actual marketing strategy that is not "build a great product and they will come".
2. Is aware of user LTV, churn, and CPA, or has a clear path to measuring and analyzing this data.
3. Has run tests to validate acquisition costs on growth channels, and can show there is a clear way to scalable attract interested users even if the company is pre-revenue.
4. Has an understanding of how branding and design truly impact acquisition, conversion and churn.
5. Is able to articulate their marketing strategy without using any fluff, or buzzwords.
6. Does not assume that social media, or 'viral' campaigns are reliable growth channels.

• E) Finally, the company should ideally meet the following optional criteria:

1. Has more than one founder.
2. Has the potential for >10x return by capturing >15% of their market. (Typically TAM >$10B for early stage companies)
3. Is raising money at the pre-seed, seed or Series A round.
4. Has a team of advisors who provide regular mentorship.
5. Is looking for additional advisors from within our syndicate.
6. Can provide regular updates and financials to the syndicate.

Typically, but not exclusively, investments are in the following sectors:

1. Fintech

2. Blockchain

3. Robotics (automation)

4. Artificial Intelligence (automation/enhancement)

5. Bio-tech (lab grown food, personalized medicine, bio-infomatics, human-machine integration)

6. Quality-of-Life Software (B2B/B2C Software for essential QoL upgrades in emerging markets like Africa, South American and South-East Asia & technology related to water.)

7. Space-Tech

8. Consumer Privacy.

Investments will be made across the following regions:

-50% US

-25% Canada & EU

-10% South-East Asia

-10% Latin America

-5% Africa

Syndicate users can expect detailed analysis of markets, competitors, potential and risk in long-form with most investment pitches.Where possible we will try and get regular quarterly updates with clear KPI metrics from each startup invested in.

I'll syndicate all deals in which I have allocation that the founder is comfortable with the deal being syndicated.