One successful angel investor has revealed two red flags that prevent him from investing in a founder in the first meeting.
Carles Reina is an angel investor who backed voice cloning AI startup Eleven Labs when it was still in its very early stages in 2022. The firm was co-founded by Mati Staniszewski and Piotr Dąbkowski, and raised $180 million at a valuation of $3.3 billion, in its Series C funding earlier this year.
In September, the company announced it was letting employees sell shares at a $6.6 billion valuation. Reina is now a vice president of revenue at the AI firm.
When Reina first met Eleven Lab’s co-founder Staniszewski, he told CNBC Make It that nobody wanted to invest in voice AI at the time. However, Reina decided to take a chance on Eleven Labs after just one meeting.
“We started talking, and within 30 minutes of the first conversation, I told him, ‘How much money do you want?’” Reina shared.
