I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Dean for five years now. I actually met Dean through one of my friends, Danielle, who happens to be Dean’s daughter. As a venture capitalist, Dean has been through many successful investments through his life; he’s also been fortunate enough to learn from some unsuccessful ones.
So how does one even become a VC? This is something I asked Dean when we sat down together and he was kind enough to enlighten me with the knowledge he has attained through the years. “My initiation into the VC world stemmed from my belief that I could do it better.” Dean was originally asked to invest with a family friend, who he wishes to leave unnamed, that offered Dean a chance to get involved with the development of a golf course. As you can imagine, Dean is not the silent investor type. He fought for as much control as he could, but found out later it would not be enough. Dean originally took the opportunity because he believed the idea had potential and it would be successful with his help. Unfortunately, he had barely any say in the more important matters and had little impact on the development of the project. Fortunately, Dean lost next to nothing in the investment, but, until this day, all he can think about is the opportunity cost.
So what next for the frustrated investor? I can imagine a lot of people in his situation would move forward by investing in more traditional and safe investments, but not Dean. He took away two lessons: First, if you do decide to invest in an idea as a silent investor, make sure to have complete faith in the current development plan and entrepreneur. Second, if you are not completely happy with the current plan, only invest if you can grasp enough control to guide the project in the right direction. Obviously these are Dean’s opinions based off his own experience, but I’ve always been a fan of learning from other’s mistakes.
Dean continued to invest in a variety of companies ranging from Par 9 Homes construction company to an overseas Bank to the gold mining operation Dragon Gold. Dean admitted that he didn’t always possess the fundamental knowledge it took to recognize all the opportunities as successful business. When he couldn’t rely on his own knowledge, he would rely on others. Dean is humble enough to admit he doesn’t know everything, but he’s proud to admit he can recognize when the entrepreneur attains the knowledge to succeed. A couple of his successful investments were solely based off the reputation of the entrepreneur running the show.
At the end of the interview I asked him if he had any advice for early investors: “Be patient, don’t let your excitement get the best of you.” This reminded me of one of the fundamental lessons learned in ENT640: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
