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The Burden of Being Right
Confessions of a European Angel Investor
You made money. You know business. How hard can investing be? Congratulations. Someone will shortly offer you a terrible startup investment.
In The Burden of Being Right, Nicolaj Højer Nielsen explains which founders to back, which angels and VCs to trust, which lemmings to ignore, when to sell, and when to shut up and wait.
Softcover
- Expected shipment: end of November
- Free shipping in Denmark. €9.90 in the EU.
- Pre-order price ends when the book goes on general sale
Nicolaj Højer Nielsen
Look at that smug face. That is the face of a man who is right all the time.
He co-founded Penneo and Sepior, taught entrepreneurship at Copenhagen Business School for fifteen years, and has been a business angel since 2008. He lives in Andorra.
A word of warning from the editor
“Nicolaj is great at many things. Being subtle and sophisticated is not among them. When he first sent me this manuscript, I took it upon myself to save him from himself. I cut the worst jokes and softened the most deranged stories. He responded by doubling down on the jokes and calling me a coward in print. He is also right all the time, which is the part I find professionally irritating, and he proves it by showing you his numbers, including the ugly ones. In the end, we compromised. The jokes stay as he wrote them, and I get this page.”
Nick Traulsen, editor
- Pre-order now and save 34%
- ·Expected shipment end of November
- ·Free shipping in Denmark
18
years as a business angel
73
startups backed
5.7x
returned to investors in his first fund
>30%
personal annualized return
The book shows how every number was calculated, losses included.
What's inside
The five burdens
Part 1: The Mirror
Why private markets are rigged, why your current process is garbage, and why we must publicly autopsy your self-esteem before building anything useful.
Part 2: The Founders
How to find the extraordinary founders the market misprices and avoid the narcissists and liars it happily funds.
Part 3: The Lemmings
How co-investors lead you off cliffs while calling themselves 'contrarian', and how to use their signals without catching their stupidity.
Part 4: Sitting on Your Ass
How to survive ten years of nothing without running out of money, nerve, or time before the exits arrive.
Part 5: Living with What You've Become
The board seats that imprison your ego, the fund you will be tempted to raise, and the day your reputation becomes a risk to everyone following it.
Contains: 73 startups. 20 funerals. 5 miracles. 1 God complex.
Side effects may include: less FOMO, more self-suspicion, awkward questions, and fewer expensive friendships.
“Any idiot can be right in year one. You have to still be solvent in year twelve to get paid for it.”
From The Burden of Being Right
What early readers say
“Nicolaj claims he's right all the time. As his first investment, I'm apparently Exhibit A, though backing me broke half the rules in his own book. He wrote the check when Recon was an idea and a couch to sleep on, then behaved through every near-death moment exactly the way this book tells investors to behave. If he'd known his own ticket-size rule back in 2008, Recon would have gotten a much smaller check.”
Dan Eisenhardt · Founder, Recon Instruments
“Nicolaj claims only two people have reached his level of clarity: himself and Jesus. I've known him for years and can confirm Jesus is the humbler of the two. Buy the book anyway. It'll save you more money than it costs, and Nicolaj will be insufferable either way.”
Ditlev Bredahl · Serial founder and investor
“Brutally honest and deep. It gets hairy and complex at times, but it's still an easy read because of the entertainment value and bluntness. As a founder this book made me realize I never truly understood the hundreds of angels I received checks from over the years. I now know exactly how I can do better.”
Kasper Brandi Petersen · Co-founder, Labfresh
“A highly engaging and humorous personal take on angel investing, filled with anecdotes, honest lessons and plenty of hard-earned wisdom. If you are considering becoming an angel investor, this book could save you a lot of money.”
Christian Stampe Vinther · Partner, Founderment
“When Nicolaj communicates, people listen. We listen because Nicolaj is very authentic and trustworthy in his no-bullshit, entertaining style. His messages and advice are to the point, and he is fully aware of the mistakes and traps he also falls into himself. That humorous self-awareness, combined with his extensive experience as both operator and investor, makes his book a great read for new and experienced investors.”
Kasper Grundtvig Knokgaard · Founder, Compounding Capital
Questions
Before you pre-order
Who is this book for?+
People with money who think they are good at startup investing, and founders who want to know what the person across the table is really thinking. Wealthy executives, exited founders, business angels. Most of them are not as good as they think. That is the point. The cases are European, mostly Nordic. The mechanics are universal.
Is it really that rude?+
Yes. The editor tried to soften it and failed. If you are easily offended, this book was not written for you.
Are the numbers real?+
Yes. Eighteen years, seventy-three startups, a 5.7x first fund, and a personal annualized return above 30 percent, built from bank statements, cap tables, and closing documents. The book publishes the results, all twenty losses, and the methodology, so you can check the arithmetic yourself.
When do I get the book?+
Pre-orders ship first. Expected shipment: end of November. The 34 percent pre-order price disappears the day the book goes on general sale.
Do I need capital to start angel investing?+
Less than most people assume, but more than one check's worth. The book explains the minimum portfolio you need for the math to work, and what to do if you are below it.
How long is it?+
About 300 pages. More than forty named companies, 173 footnotes, and the author's own track record, losses included. Softcover, made to sit on a desk, not in a download folder.
What does shipping cost?+
Free in Denmark. €9.90 in the rest of the EU. €19.90 for the rest of the world.
Table of contents
Part 1: The Mirror
1. Private Markets Are Rigged · 2. The Power Law · 3. The Price of Being Wrong · 4. Your Investment 'Thesis' · 5. Shut Up and Be Useful · 6. Famous in a Small Pond
Interlude: Open the Ledger
The Results · The Graveyard · The Case against Me · Copenhagen United: The Fund Results
Part 2: The Founders
7. Friends, Fools, and Financial Suicide · 8. Repeated Games · 9. The Unusual Suspects · 10. Action over Fiction · 11. Fake Traction · 12. The Hunt for the Rotten Tomato
Part 3: The Lemmings
13. Why 99% Are Lemmings · 14. The Angel across the Table · 15. Feeding the Giants · 16. When the Giants Eat You
Part 4: Sitting on Your Ass
17. The Twelve-Year Waiting Room · 18. Legal Insider Trading
Part 5: Living with What You've Become
19. The Veteran's Traps · 20. When You Become the Signal · Epilogue: The Final Word
Appendices
A. Useful Generic Strategy Advice · B. Track Record Methodology
Are you Greg?
Eight questions about how you actually invest. Your verdict appears immediately. Arguing with it is question nine.
Your result stays between us. Unless it's funny.
Things I got wrong
One letter a month, on expensive mistakes
A deal I passed on too early. A founder I misread. A clause I ignored. The post-mortems nobody puts in a pitch deck.