Most founders in Japan are looking for angel investors without knowing how few actually exist, or what it truly takes to get one to say yes. Colin Magne has written checks into 65 startups and built Japan Angels, the country's only active community for angel investors, to help change that.In this episode of the Produck Podcast, Lee Jean sits down with Colin Magne, founder of Japan Angels, to break down the full landscape of early stage investing in Japan. Colin shares how his career as a software engineer in Silicon Valley in the year 2000, and a later IPO at a Japanese startup, led him to start angel investing, and what 10 years of backing founders has actually taught him.What they cover:- Why Colin bets on the founder first, not the product, and the specific traits he looks for (humility, communication, openness to the market)- The macro investing mistake that killed a chunk of his early portfolio: investing too fast in 2018-2020 when money was easy, and watching those companies die when the tide went out- The deep tech company with world-class tech whose CEO couldn't sell it, and why that mattered more than the science- Why angel investors and VCs both want the same thing from a pitch, just at a different stage- Japan's angel investment tax benefit (Angel Zei Seido) and how it actually works- What happens to early investors when a VC comes in with a term sheet, and the real story of a founder who got fired from his own company by his backers- Why Japan needs to grow its angel community, and the role retiring professionals could play- What Japan Angels is, why it's free, and where Colin wants it to goLee and Colin are also co-hosting a Shark Tank-style pitch event on October 15th, details here: https://luma.com/i1jyx5hqConnect with Colin Magne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colinmagne/Check out Japan Angels, join their community, and apply to pitch at our next event all from their website www.japanangels.org#produckpodcast #angelinvestor #japanstartups #japanangels #venturecapital #startupfunding #founderadvice #fundraising #tokyostartups #startupjapan