Angels and Smells

One of the biggest benefits of being an Angel investor, startup advisor or generally hanging out around startups is that you get to learn a shedload. Working in a large firm doesn’t give you that kind of an in-depth 360x360x360 overview because they are big, there’s no pressure to learn, and you can merrily bumble along.?

But not when it comes to startups. The sheer intensity of working with founders, their ability to showcase everything about their overall business model, the fact that they have identified a lack or hole in existing business models, or they have a firm grasp of the competition, what value they provide, how to extract value from which kind of customer and so on and so forth.?

As an Angel investor, you get a 3-5-7 year diploma in that subject, you will (hopefully get a return), make some awesome friends, improve your own skills, and it’s generally a very good enjoyable time. Yes of course it’s risky, you’ll quite possibly lose your investment but what a great ride!?

Here’s a great quote on the startups. “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

— Apple's?Think Different?campaign, TBWA/Chiat/Day (1997

I’ve been learning about smells and fragrances recently via speaking to a new friend who is the ceo of a speciality perfumes and flavouring chemical firm in the UK?and to be honest, it’s blowing my mind and making me dizzy as to this entire industry, what it’s done and what it’s going to do. More on this later but I’m starting to develop this proboscis of mine. It’s full of a totally different vocabulary which is simultaneously poetic as well as impenetrable. The magazines are full of a world that I just don’t know about but are still amazingly tightly connected to our corporate and personal life. So many people realised this when they got covid and lost their sense of taste and smell. Ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone kindda thing?

But sometimes I come across smells which make me wonder. Take this as an example which I found in Madinat Zayed shopping mall in Abu Dhabi. There’s all these various perfumes in bottles and then you choose the one which you like, and they will decant it into a nice cute cosy bottle for you to take home. So far so good. So I was peering at them and having the glass bottle stoppers shoved under my nose (don’t ask what all this did to my mooch). And then I spotted this one million men perfume.?

Seriously? Why would anyone spray themselves with the aroma of a million men? Men are dirty smelly stinky and they scratch constantly. The mind boggles. How did you figure out the smell of 1,000,000 men? How did you replicate it? Why? And who on earth is buying it and where the heck are they spraying it? The poor shopkeeper just shrugged when I looked at him incredulously. I looked at my friend in amazement and all I got was a blasé shrug as if they do this all the time.?

This industry is really strange. Cant wait to get into it more.

Have a great weekend?sniffing.