Every investor claims to back exceptional teams in large markets. That description is true and almost useless. What follows is the more specific version of what we look for.
1. Operating clarity
We want to understand how the business makes money in a single paragraph, without conditionals. Complexity in a business model is sometimes genuine, and is more often a sign that the core has not been found yet.
2. Economics that survive scrutiny
Unit economics are examined before growth. A company that loses money per transaction does not fix it with volume; it accelerates the problem. We would rather see a smaller number that holds than a larger one that depends on assumptions nobody has tested.
3. Infrastructure that transfers
Because we operate as a group, we weight capability that other Tekhey companies can draw on: a payments layer, a compliance practice, a data platform, a hiring pipeline in a difficult market. Value that stays inside one company is worth less to us than value the group can reuse.
4. Founders on a long clock
The compounding we care about takes years. We look for people who talk about the business in that timeframe, who describe problems accurately rather than favourably, and who intend to still be there when the work pays off.
What we pass on
- Businesses whose main asset is momentum
- Markets we cannot reach operationally, where our contribution would be capital alone
- Teams unwilling to be measured on unit economics
A pass is rarely a judgement about quality. Usually it means we are not the right holder for that company.
