Nico Berardi, Animo Ventures | How to Build a Close Relationship With Your Investor

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Today I spoke with Nico Berardi, cofounder and partner at ANIMO Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital fund based in Miami, of around 150 million dollars, that has invested in more than 70 companies. Nico had a very unconventional entry into the world of venture capital, since before that he worked for 7 years as director of the NGO Techo para mi país in Latin America and in the United States. Influenced by this experience, Nico has wanted to build the venture capital firm most focused on the human and personal side of entrepreneurship.

Youtube Timestamps*

[11:04] - Humanity as a Competitive Advantage

Nico has said that his superpower as an investor is connecting with people, influenced by his time at Techo.

What does Nico do that is genuinely different in the way he connects with founders and with people in general?

Nico mentioned: “If I can make a founder’s path less lonely, their life will be better because the journey will be less lonely and more pleasant, and that is why the company will do better.”

What does Nico do day to day to make his founders’ path less lonely?
What has Nico seen founders do to handle the loneliness that building a company involves?

This ability to connect on a personal level, beyond the professional one, is also important in the founder’s relationship with their team.

What has Nico seen his best founders do to create close bonds with their teams?
What has Nico learned about how to have difficult conversations, both in the founder-investor relationship and between a founder and their team?

[28:45] - Evaluating People and Investments

Nico and his team make investments at the pre-seed and seed stage.

When he invests in a team with a PowerPoint, what is Nico looking for?

Nico has mentioned that he looks for “signs of genius”, but it seems that, in many cases, he needs years to know someone’s true, deep character.

What are Nico’s favorite ways to discover that when he has little time to get to know someone? How does he get as close as possible to this within weeks or months of knowing someone?
Are there some more personal traits (for example, leadership, empathy, etc.) that Nico evaluates in founders which other venture capital funds might not value in the same way? What questions or situations has he found most effective for revealing those qualities?

There are people who recommend avoiding talking to an investor before having everything ready, so as not to burn the chance of a great first impression.

Does Nico recommend that founders connect and build relationships with investors before they are ready to raise capital? How to do it correctly?

[45:23]- How to Raise Capital

Nico said he validated the idea for his fund by having coffees with acquaintances from his network before he started raising the fund.

How did Nico structure that initial validation process, and what lessons can he share with founders who are looking to validate their own ideas before they go out to raise capital?
When a story clicks for Nico, what elements does that pitch deck usually have?

A founder looking to raise capital has to be a great communicator.

In his experience, where do founders usually fail when telling their companies’ stories? Could Nico share some practical tips for a founder?

[11:04] - Humanity as a Competitive Advantage

[28:45] - Evaluating People and Investments

[45:23]- How to Raise Capital

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