Today's Entrepreneur is Ben Smith, Chairman and Co-founder of MerchantCircle.
Ben is also an angel investor.
Vator’s community is the home to entrepreneurs who embrace their passion and follow their dreams. Our profiles allow members to express themselves by sharing their interests, lessons learned, as well as bits and pieces of their roller-coaster journey.
These profiles give entrepreneurs an opportunity to showcase themselves and tell their story. So if you are an entrepreneur, a serial entrepreneur, or even an aspiring entrepreneur, we'd like to hear from you.
I am a(n):
Entrepreneur
Companies I've founded or co-founded:
MerchantCircle, Spoke
Companies I've invested in:
tapulous, mesmo, spoke, longtailvideo, merchantcircle
Startups I worked for:
spoke, merchantcircle
If you are an entrepreneur, why?
I want to invent something cool.
My favorite startups:
facebook, tapulous
What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?
people who are not as focused as you
What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make?
Not staying focused
What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?
Go for high velocity models, don't let investors decide direction, play to win.
| Type of investor | Angel |
| Typical investment size | $25,000 - $50,000 |
| Typical investments in a year | 8 |
| Investments made | Over 20 Companies |
| Investments partners | DCM, Partech, Mayfield, USVP, Sequoia, Norwest, MDV |
| Categories of interest | |
| Credentials | Accredited Investor, Qualified Purchaser |
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