JMCobian 🤓

Startup Investor | Freelance Consultant

Spanish startup investor focused on EU-based startups developing B2B SaaS, no-code & productivity tools, marketplaces, crypto and AI solutions.Board member at TetuanValley, and freelance management consultant collaborating with firms like Capsys Group, Delta G Advisors, or ITASU.Please read below to learn more about my investment criteria, my portfolio, my background, my publications, and my contact info.

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Investment Criteria

Stage: Pre-seed or Seed
Ticket Size: € 5k to € 10k
Pre-Money Valuation: € 350k to € 3.5M
Financing Instrument: SAFE, Convertible Note or Equity
Geographical Focus: European Union 🇪🇺

Areas of Interest

Do more/faster/better with less. B2B SaaS platforms, as well as no-code and productivity tools for SMEs, startups, creators, freelancers and sole-traders.
Work-life balance. Deflactionary B2B or B2C tools and platforms democratizing the access to knowledge, capital, resources, health and wellbeing in order to future-proof the life and careers of their users.
Disintermediation/decentralization. Marketplace and/or "pick-and-shovel" plays shifting the power in an industry's value chain from its middle towards one or both of its ends.

My 10-point Investment Checklist

I only invest in teams (2+ people working full-time). Solopreneurs are OK, as long as they already have 1 or more full-time hires.
Team members must have worked together for a number of years in the past, ideally on a VC-funded startup or scaleup (not mandatory).
If this is not your first rodeo as a founder, it's a big plus. Otherwise, having solid references or gone through an accelerator is a plus too.
You must be "scratching your own itch" and have demonstrable domain expertise in the industry & problem you are addressing.
The startup must be addressing an already large TAM, SAM & SOM (no need for market-size or P&L forecasts. The future is uncertain).
The startup should ideally be a "winner-takes-all/most" play and/or have a very clear "moat" to protect their business.
Pre-revenue is fine, some revenue is even better (obviously). Pre-MVP is far from ideal (very few exceptions will be considered).
I invest in "bits" rather than "atoms" and in recurrent revenue (SaaS, subscription) or high-ticket/margin plays rather than high-volume.
I love bootstrappers that "do things that don't scale" (i.e., if you plan to spend a fair % of your 1st round on marketing, I'm not your guy).
I invest in honest people that I'd enjoy working with and can add value to them. Areas: PMF, GTM, recruitment & internationalization.

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IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER== "Those are my principles and, if you don't like them... Well, I have others"==
(Groucho Marx)The above is just a transparent exposition of all the things I pay attention to and look for in a project before I invest and thus, it depicts what would be the ideal pre-seed startup investment for me. Consequently, please do not feel discouraged to get in touch with me if your project does not score a perfect 10/10 on this checklist.TL;DR: I do not expect any pre-seed stage startup to be a perfect 10/10.
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Current Investment Portfolio

Onyze
Meetzy
Swipoo
Lullaai
Cuyna
Parallel
Together
Trucksters

Past Investments

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About me

Hi, I’m Jose (a.k.a Cobi), a startup investor based in Spain.I’m a board member at TetuanValley, the first 100% free startup accelerator in Europe (0€ cost + 0% equity) aimed at first-time entrepreneurs, with 900+ alumni worldwide in its 12+ years of existence.Additionally, I collaborate on a regular basis with consulting firms Capsys Group, Delta G Advisors, and ITASU on a variety of projects.Previously, I led the launch and expansion in Southern Europe of both blockchain & fintech trailblazer Circle and mobile-first hotel bookings pioneer HotelTonight (acquired by AirBnB in 2019).Prior to that, I co-founded and led TetuanValley as its first CEO, I advised several VCs and investors in over 30+ investment mandates from deal-sourcing up to due diligence, and I developed and led several startup acceleration programs, tech incubators, and academic programs to foster the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Spain.Before that, I was a Management Consultant for Oliver Wyman and Monitor Group.