E219: How Emerging Managers Can Beat Multi-Stage Firms
Podcast: How I Invest with David WeisburdPublished On: Mon Sep 29 2025
Description: How do you underwrite pre-seed founders when the only durable asset is the human—before there’s product-market fit? In this episode, I go deep with Mike Ma, Managing Partner at Sidecut Ventures, on his 30-day “work-alongside” diligence, why he optimizes for action-oriented self-awareness, and how to calibrate coachability—especially in go-to-market—without overfitting to investor bias. We unpack earned secrets, impact theses in education, climate, healthcare, and economic mobility, solo-GP advantages, alignment pitfalls from 2021-era rounds, and the mindset habits he wishes he’d had earlier: “write at a fourth-grade level” and “document your screw-ups.”
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