Episode Details

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David Brown has seen thousands of pitches. He funds very few of them.

Not because the ideas are bad. Because the founders haven't done the work of being known, trusted, or differentiated before they walk into the room.

David is the founder of Impellent Ventures, a pre-seed and seed stage fund backing founders in underserved ecosystems across upstate New York and the Rust Belt. Before that, he built TUGG, Technology Underwriting Greater Good, into one of Boston's most influential startup communities, putting 14,000 people a year through events and millions of dollars into early-stage companies.

He's spent his career betting on founders before anyone else does. And he has a clear point of view on what separates those who make it from those who don't.

In this episode of Return on Reputation, we cover:

— Why 90% of pitches get ignored and what actually gets an investor's attention 

— The three things David looks for in a founder above everything else 

— Why the VC relationship lasts longer than most American marriages 

— What personal brand gets wrong and what it looks like when it's done right 

— How to get warm introductions in a world where cold outreach is dying 

— The one habit David says most founders and investors forget about 

— What reputation really means after twenty years of betting on people

This one is for the founders who are building something real and wondering why the right people haven't found them yet.

Chapters: 

00:00 Introduction
02:10 TUGG and the Boston startup era
06:35 Why David moved back to Rochester and started Impellent
11:05 The Impellent thesis: supercharging startups in underserved markets
17:13 What investors actually evaluate in a founder
23:00 The VC relationship is longer than a marriage
25:19 Personal brand vs. vanity brand — where founders get it wrong
29:00 AI in the pitch process and portfolio companies
40:35 How founders should build authority to get in front of investors
43:30 The biggest mistake founders make
45:15 Rapid fire
48:05 What reputation means today

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