71: Don’t Be Afraid to Disrupt your life with Entrepreneur and Investment Banker, Scott Lopez

This week’s Misfit Entrepreneur is Scott Lopez. Scott has an interesting background. He is a former Marine Corps fighter pilot turned Investment banker who works with early stage tech companies that need financing. He helps to get investments typically in the range of $1 million to $100 hundred million…oh, and on top of that, he is a world champion in Brazilian Ju-jitsu and the host of his own podcast, the Disruptive Investor Radio show which highlights disruptive technology companies that could potentially change the world, as well as the professional investors that invest in those companies.

Scott has a unique perspective on what is on the cutting edge of tech and what investors are looking for in an investment pitch, so I wanted to have him on to share this with you for you to know which technology to look out for - as well as what you can do to wow investors if you are pitching your startup or company.

www.ScottLopez.com

Scott started from humble beginnings as a welfare kid. He didn’t have much growing up. He moved around a lot. He admits he had some issues with self-esteem. What helped him overcome this was joining the Marines. He spent 10 years in the Marine Corp as a fighter pilot and says that this helped him to find who he was and gain confidence in himself.

He then went on to get his MBA and worked with Starz and Charter Communications. He opened up a business in health care. Scott also started speaking and consulting. Because of his background in healthcare and success, he was able to start in investing in companies, such as medical device and others. This lead him to working with a hedge fund and ultimately to investment banking.

What have you learned about how to overcome obstacles and become mentally tough?

Your perspectives, beliefs, and consciousness (how you see yourself and your interactions with others) all impact who you are and your ability to succeed in life. Scott says that he as fortunate to attract great mentors into his life. He learned about modeling and the fact that “success leaves clues” from Brian Tracy. Simply put, if you want to do something or learn something, you can find someone either in person, a book, video, or any other medium doing it and learn from them.

Scott recommends the book, “Psychological Foundations of Success by Steve J. Krauss” that is a scientific process of mapping out a system to succeed.

What is the system/process?

5 Principles:

1. Vision: Clarifying what you really want from life
2. Strategy: Taking action and turning lofty ambitions into consistent actions
3. Belief: Minimizing FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt)
4. Persistence: Drive and determination
5. Learning: Learning from mistakes and truly making course corrections in life

Other advice to overcome and succeed in life?

• Don’t let “Best” get in the way of “good enough” when it comes to starting on your dreams. Nothing needs to be perfect. Don’t be stopped by the “it has to be perfect” curse.
• Sometimes you just gotta go for it and ready, fire, aim, and course correct from there

How do you get rich?

If there is a problem, someone is going to find a solution and the bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity – and money you can make.

What trends are important in technology that we should be watching?

• More disruption is happening today than at any other time AI/Machine learning is here and growing and we are still trying to figure out whether it will be bad or good.
  • AI/Machine learning can really help figure out the patterns and usefulness out of pebibytes of unstructured data which is a huge benefit
• Cryptocurrency – more importantly, the use of blockchain as a whole is game-changing
• Nano-tech
• Cannabis
• Augmented Reality
• Autonomous vehicles

At the 21 min mark, Scott talks about a good strategy to decide if your idea will work before you ever start a company and then how to go forward with an exit strategy already in place.

At the 27 min mark, Scott discusses the investor side of things such as how investors and capital groups choose to invest and what you should know if you plan to seek investment or sale of your own business or startup.

• Financing is typically either debt (loan) or equity or even a combination of both
• Two questions any potential investor should ask an entrepreneur (and for entrepreneurs – two questions you should have a ready answer for)
  • How much have you raised to date?
  • What have you done with it?
  • The answers to these question will give you 90% of what you need to know about the potential investment.
• Results rule – if you can prove that you can execute with the money you have or money you’ve received. That helps to prove you are worth investing in.
• Most investors are looking for at least 3x return on investment on their money.

Anything else we should know about the tech space?

• No matter who you are or where you are, stay up to date and pay attention
• There are so many opportunities happening every day. Scott uses “E-sports” as an example

What have you learned in all your work with Jujitsu and being a Marine Corps fighter pilot that translates well to entrepreneurship?

• Entrepreneurship is a never-ending journey that is always evolving
• You have to learn to make adjustments to adverse situations
• You have to keep calm under pressure because you will always face some sort of adversity
• It is not about getting “tapped out” or losing, but constantly improving and getting incrementally better every day.
• It is about performance and results and those come as you incrementally get better Anticipate challenges, prepare, and be ready when they arise
• Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, but you have to put yourself in a position to capitalize when opportunities arise – which happens when you are prepared.
• Don’t be afraid to act – ask yourself “Am I ready when my moment comes…”

Advice for young or new entrepreneurs?

• Locate yourself in the area that has the resources, contacts, environment, and ecosystem that will support what you are trying to accomplish
• Building your network strategically is so important. Be smart, but make the connections you know you need.
• Be where the action is.

 

Best Quote: “Don’t let “Best” get in the way of “good enough” when it comes to starting on your dreams.”

 

Scott's Misfit 3:

1. Know the two questions as either an investor or entrepreneur: How much have you raised to date? What did you do with it?
2. We compete in life to improve, not to prove. It is a continuous journey.
3. Remember the success formula and its 5 principles: Vision, Strategy, Belief, Persistence, Learning