STEPHEN SNYDER ‒ NYA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Steve is an active member of the New York/Boston/Philadelphia early stage investment community through the New York Angels (NYA) and Clean Energy Venture Group (CEVG), participation on the boards of a number of companies and advising companies through involvement as a Senior Board Advisor via Haven Partners, LLC. Additionally, he brings an international perspective from a consulting career spanning 35+ years with advanced technology companies leading their launch of new products, services and capabilities - taking them from strategy to market operation. Steve launched Accentures' Communications/ High Tech and Utilities businesses across Greater China with over 10 years as Managing Partner.
How did you meet New York Angels? Why did you choose NYA?
I met New York Angels 2008-2009 when I was launching a startup - Haven Energy Partners. HEP’s mission was to support financing of wind, solar and other renewable applications for small to medium commercial applications (500kw or so) that might otherwise find it difficult at the time to construct a reasonable deal. Paul Cantwell, who was my partner in HEP and former partner in Accenture, introduced me to NYA. The full story is rather convoluted and involves Donna Karan, odd financial platforms and tax-equity investing...but I’ll save that for another day.
I found New York Angels to be a place where I could begin to learn more about early-stage companies and investing to expand my areas of interest beyond simply global telecom, utilities, and media which were the focal points of my career. I would say that I didn't exactly 'choose' NYA. NYA was there, seemed to be a good option to learn with good people, and with Paul's prodding, I went with the flow and joined.
What has been your most memorable experience as a New York Angel?
Perhaps the most memorable experience was a dumb-luck scenario! I invested in Social Bicycles in their first round in front of New York Angels. I invested primarily because at the time, I led the Business Innovations Group of Wipro Technologies, a global Indian-origin technology provider. I used NYA as a bit of a scouting spot for new ideas and innovative applications. At the time I was launching Wipro's IoT business, and the concept of turning the economics of bike-sharing upside down by 1) using a device to let the bike tell you where it was, 2) its condition, and 3) other key data both for bike renters as well as bike-share-owners was at the time unique (vs. the very costly, fixed stanchions used by all other players at the time ‒ much like the NYC Citibikes, which cost approximately $3-5k per bike per location due to fixed costs vs. roughly $1k per bike installed for SoBi).
The dumb luck is that when SoBi (Social Bicycles also known as Lime) was sold to Uber, I was traveling internationally. I was unable to get into a portal to designate that I remained a qualified investor, so they paid out the entire proceeds (approximately 10-11x of the original investment) in cash! All other investors were forced to take a partial, but very limited share in cash, and the rest in Uber stock, which was highly overvalued. So by being late to the party, unable to sign in to a secure portal from India, and simply not doing something on time, I was the lucky one to exit fully in cash vs. what became devalued Uber stock. Lucky me! Better lucky than smart?
What do you look for when you are investing in a company?
People, people, people. Wrapped around a credible idea. Never the reverse. I tend to be attracted to a good pitch and great idea, but the real meat of execution through good and difficult times is the people leading the charge. Every time I've strayed, I've been burned. Never idea-first in my criteria going forward. Committed people can make a good idea better, but a good idea never gets better on it's own.
What do founders like most about working with you?
Couldn't tell you - you would need to ask them. I can share what one CEO of a Hong Kong company said. He wanted me to participate in their board meetings and wanted me to be always on-call for their execs ‒ the comment he made was something to the effect of: ''You care more about our company than almost any of our employees. You aren't trying to sell services. You want us to lead in the market. You bring ideas and opinions to the table that our execs are sometimes afraid to raise, and it shows every time we speak....'' I was a bit flattered, but took that to heart as a consultant and post that part of my career in my daily life. Ideas and people will come and go, money comes and goes, but a sincere desire to do your best, and care about those around you and are working for or with ‒ it's either there or it isn't. It doesn't come and go. It's more than a paycheck. Perhaps a bit naïve, but guilty as charged.
Final note, perhaps it comes a bit from the old quote by Arthur Andersen himself.... ''Think Straight, Talk Straight''. Can't go too far wrong if you follow that (although AA&Co at Enron didn't follow the founders' advice, did they? Look where that got them!!)
What's the biggest difference between companies that you see at Screening and those who make it through to Due Diligence?
Good Ideas get through screening. Team and commitment gets through Due Diligence.
What advice would you give founders who are starting to fundraise?
No BS. Lay out what you know. What you don't know. Give a reasonable assessment of risks, and lay out clearly how you plan to address them. Happy words are for fools. Be optimistic, positive, but grounded and pragmatic at the same time, and that is very hard to do.
When you look at your past investments, what do you think is most critical for founders to be able to deliver a successful exit?
Tenacity. None of this stuff is easy. New founders have a tough job ‒ one that most are ill-prepared for and need to learn and adapt quickly too. They need to have their sensors up for market, business and product changes, but not just flip willy-nilly if they have conviction around a course. Some early stage companies have only one plan, no flexibility, don't listen well, aren't coachable. Stay away from them because they'll burn $$…until the investors are dry.
