Angel Investor Ron Conway has stated that he likes investing in entrepreneurs when they’re 17 or 18 because he gets to watch their entire progression from start to finish.
Ron Conway made his fortunes in the computing industry, and he has been an active angel investor for over 15 years. He was the Founder and Managing Partner of the Angel Investors LP funds (1998-2005) whose investments included: Google, Ask Jeeves, Paypal, Good Technology, Opsware, and Brightmail. Conway was recently named #6 in Forbes Magazine Midas list of top ‘deal-makers’ in 2008.
Although he noted that entrepreneurs at 17 or 18 often need their parents with them because they’re not legally allowed to sign a deal on their own, he noted that he derived most satisfaction from seeing youngsters go from young upstarts to mature business people.
Without meaning to be cynical, another benefit of getting entrepreneurs in their teens is that they are less driven by money and hence he can get a better deal.
He also caused a stir by implying that all young entrepreneurs are male. Ron Conway was speaking as part of TechCrunch’s Disrupt event in New York, which started today and runs for three days.
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