What Investors Really Look For in Founders

The Playbook With David Meltzer

David Meltzer, Entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneurship, Business, Careers

4.9 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 January 2026

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In today’s episode, I sit down with Danny Cortenraede, founder and managing partner of InStudio Ventures, to talk about what actually matters when you are building a company and trying to raise capital. We get real about the myth of overnight success, the grind behind it, and why relationships, resilience, and alignment matter more than flashy ideas. Danny shares how he evaluates founders, how deal flow really works in sports and entertainment, and why most pitches fail before they ever start. We also unpack timing, access, and what to do when the answer is not at this time, while staying focused on becoming the person who earns the next yes.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Entrepreneurs, the Playbook. I'm David Meltzer. I'm here at the greatest stadium ever built.
0:05.2	It's amazing what $5.5 billion will buy. In fact, that Oculus right there is a billion
0:10.4	dollars. If somebody would tell me that I'd see a billion dollar TV in my lifetime, I'd tell
0:14.7	them they were high and then ask if I could have some. But more importantly, I have an extraordinary
0:19.7	entrepreneur with me today. He is the managing
0:21.7	partners of in-studio ventures. He's also a friend of mine. They're doing a documentary about him as
0:27.1	being a top entrepreneur in the mindset of a top entrepreneur. Welcome, my friend, Danny Courtney,
0:33.1	how are you? Very well. Thank you for having me, Dave. Great to have you. Look, I ran the most notable sports agency in the world.
0:39.4	That's what set me apart in the sports world.
0:43.5	Before that, I was in technology and venture.
0:46.9	The reason I got hired by Lee Steinberg Sports Entertainment as the CEO was not because
0:52.2	I was a great sports agent or a great lawyer.
0:54.3	I'm still not a great sports agent or a great lawyer, but he had found someone that had the most
0:59.6	experience in venture capital and technology and had some sort of background in sports law,
1:05.8	sports entertainment and things like that.
1:07.5	So most people think, oh, Dave Meltzer is a legendary sports agent.
1:12.3	I consider myself a legendary sports executive who specialized in technology and venture,
1:17.4	which was a common bond between us. The reason Lee in the early 2000s hired me because of the
1:24.2	venture in technology is he's a visionary. he was one of the first people to see
1:28.9	that the future of sports had nothing to do with agency. It had to do with venture and technology.
1:34.1	And you and Rich Climman and KD and, you know, everybody out there is learning what Lee thought of
1:40.4	20 years ago and hired me to do 20 years ago, which brings up the first point,
	...

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