E27: Should Investors Befriend Founders and Solo GP Life with Ethan Austin

Ethan Austin is the Founder and General Partner of Outside VC. Outside is a Boulder-based firm with a focus on pre-seed startups, outsider founders, and financial inclusion. We talked about why Ethan whether investors should be friends with founders, fintech, what it was like running Techstars Boulder during Covid, and life as a solo GP. We dove further into the following topics:

 

• Origin Story is Everything: Grit and personal motivation trump polish.
• Friendship = Honest Feedback: Real relationships demand tough truths.
• Running a Good Fundraising Process Matters: Smart process beats a perfect pitch.
• Pre-Seed Valuations Remain High: Founders must focus on momentum, not benchmarks.
• Solo Doesn't Mean Slower: Solo founders and GPs can move faster without decision bottlenecks.
• Financial Inclusion as a Driving Mission: Real impact over surface-level fintech hype.
• Consumer Startups Reawakening: Thanks to AI, the consumer space is interesting again.

 

Investing in Startups explores the strategies and stories of leading early-stage VCs. The show is hosted by Joe Magyer and produced by Seaplane Ventures.