Doug Doan: General Partner, Hivers and Strivers Fund

The Old Grad Story: 

Doug served as an Intelligence Officer for five years, before leaving the Army to pursue defense contracting. After a few years, Doug left the contracting space to co-found his first company alongside his wife. Thirteen years later, they had successfully scaled and sold their company, gaining experiences which positioned Doug to begin investing in early-stage ventures. Today, Doug continues to invest in and mentor the military community through Hivers and Strivers, an angel investment group that works exclusively with businesses owned by veteran entrepreneurs.

Old Grad Knowledge:

We bet on the jockey, not the horse. We look for “woodpeckers” – the people who get up at 3 AM, bang away 20,000 times a day and don’t give up. These people are relentless; their refuse-to-quit mindset is essential to what we look for in entrepreneurs.

Being relentless and adaptive is a combat multiplier. Very few of our successful companies are doing exactly what they had initially pitched to us, but their determination and ability to pivot got them to where they are today.

Be like Cortez – burn the ships! Nothing happens until you commit – if you’re full-time on another job, you’re not full-time on your idea. Take a jump!

The bad news for grads: our venture funding numbers are abysmal. Stanford graduates are the most likely to get funded by a long shot, followed by MIT, Harvard, etc. We are below Slippery Rock University; that’s how undervalued our young grads are. I’m on a mission to change that.

A great day is when one of our entrepreneurs say, “I knew you wouldn’t like my idea, but let me tell you why I’m going to do it anyway.” You’re the commander, we’re the staff; we say, “roger that, boss – we’re with you every step of the way.”

Partnership with Hivers and Strivers

·         Hivers and Strivers works exclusively with veteran entrepreneurs, across any number of spaces (excepting cannabis).

·         Doug seeks out businesses that can identify a solution to a big problem (one worth solving!), coupled with a deep knowledge of the customer (how you plan to get paid!). Additionally, Doug looks for founders who have full-time commitment to their idea(s).

·         After connecting on the pitch, Doug and his team assess feasibility in collaboration with subject-matter experts in the given space.

·         Hivers and Strivers operates on the philosophy, “we don’t invest in companies – we invest in our entrepreneurs!” and aims to be the most valuable line on their founders’ cap tables. Doug and his team focus on building strong relationships with their entrepreneurial partners, providing mentorship, partnership, and support through the many ups and downs along the way.

·         Connect with Doug on LinkedIn!