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Uber founder Travis Kalanick shares his “cocktail story” test for investing in startups

August 28, 2024

In addition to founding Uber, Travis is also one of the biggest angel investors in Silicon Valley. When investing in startups, he looks for two things:

  1. Would I cofound a company with this person? “Is the entrepreneur that sits across the table from me somebody that - either right at this moment in time or I see has the potential to be - somebody that I could see being a cofounder of myself? Somebody I could get excited about working with.”

  2. Does this startup make for a good cocktail story? “Is your idea disruptive? Does it shake things up? Will it make big impact? And does it make for a good cocktail story? That’s sort of a litmus test - if I tell a story, am I excited about it? Do my eyes sparkle when I tell the story of what this founder is doing?”