Sheel Mohnot on Seed-Stage Investing

The Altogether Show with Eric Satz

A pair of headphones tangling in the spokes of a bike is one of the more unique inciting moments of an entrepreneurial venture. While his entrepreneurial spirit would lead him to Hong Kong and scouting factories in Southern China, it was Sheel Mohnot’s experience working in India with Kiva that would greatly influence his career as an investor. Impacted by the individuals he met, Sheel discovered a passion for investing in resilient and tenacious people.

Sheel Mohnot is a seed-stage fintech investor, co-founder and GP of Better Tomorrow Ventures, and founder and GP of 500 Fintech. Inspired to “work on hard problems'' by renowned Professor C.K. Prahalad during his MBA at University of Michigan, Sheel has created and led a number of companies and served as a personal angel investor.

In this episode, Sheel discusses the key lessons he has learned in fintech investing about dilution, recognizing resilient founders, and the reality of investing in an unsuccessful company. Sheel shares stories of his early ventures and insights into his current projects, including his collaboration with Jake Gibson on Better Tomorrow Ventures.

• (3:14) – A father’s journey
• (8:56) – High school and beyond
• (13:10) – Indicorps and Kiva
• (18:11) – Returning to business school
• (21:50) – The first entrepreneurial venture
• (29:36) – FeeFighters
• (38:54) – 500 Fintech
• (47:08) – Investing in the jockey
• (51:41) – Better Tomorrow Ventures

Eric Satz—entrepreneur, serial investor, lover of hot peppers— is the founder and CEO of Alto. The idea behind Alto was born out of a problem. Eric found a clear need to give people more control over their investments (and investment opportunities) in a simple, streamlined way and created Alto to make these opportunities available to all investors, not just the ultra-wealthy or institutional investors.

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Podcast episode production by Dante32