Episode summary
What Separates the Top 1% of GPs
How I Invest With David Weisburd
· · 31 min · Hosts: David Weisburd · Guests: Joshua Browder
Summary
Joshua Browder argues that DoNotPay proves a venture-backed company can still be built to profit, with a tiny 14-person team, hundreds of thousands of customers, and dividend payments to shareholders. He frames the business as an AI consumer champion that helps people fight big companies and the government across more than 100 consumer issues, from parking tickets to refunds and subscription cancellations.
The larger investing thesis is that the best outcomes come from being a founder’s first believer before the market can easily see the opportunity. Joshua Browder says his approach is to back people who are exceptional but not yet credentialed, often before incorporation or before a formal round, then create momentum operationally by helping with recruiting, location, visas, and introductions. He contrasts that hands-on model with larger funds and accelerator-style support.
He repeatedly returns to the idea that “one big decision a year” matters more than constant optimization. In his view, grit, deep personal connection to the problem, and the ability to execute from idea to revenue matter more than raw IQ or polished credentials. He also says pre-seed startups usually fail by running out of money, hope, or trust, and that the job of an early investor is to keep hope and momentum alive until the company can raise institutional capital.
Key takeaways
- Joshua Browder says DoNotPay is profitable as a Series B company with a team of 14 and has already started paying dividends to shareholders.
- Joshua Browder’s fund strategy is to be the first believer in founders who are not yet credentialed, then help create momentum before institutional seed investors arrive.
- Joshua Browder says grit matters more than IQ, especially when founders have a personal chip on their shoulder and a real connection to the problem.
- Joshua Browder thinks the biggest early-stage failure mode is not lack of money alone, but founders running out of hope.
- Joshua Browder says his fourth fund is focused on super-early checks with no reserves, because he believes the value creation is highest at the pre-seed stage.
Notable quotes
“we have hundreds of thousands of customers and it's a very small team of only 14 people at this point”
“So about a year and a half ago, we started doing dividends for our shareholders”
“I think it's more of a myth than people realize about whether you should be losing too much money”
“it's better to create your own momentum than chase the hype of others”
“I think IQ is important. You definitely want above average. They know how they need to know how to play the game and build their business. But what you said about grit is much more important”
How the episode opens
Joshua, I've been very excited to chat. Welcome to the How Invest podcast. — Thank you so much for having me. — So, tell me where do not pay sits as a business today.
So, Do Not Pay has been around for a while. I like to think of Do Not Pay as a AI consumer champion. And what I mean by that is we help we've helped millions of people um fight back against big companies and the government.
The very first use case 10 years ago, I started it as a freshman in college was helping people get out of parking ticket. And today we have over a hundred areas of consumer issues that we help people with such as getting people refunds, cancelling subscription, all of the areas where big companies know that people don't have the time to fight back. So do not pay is a subscription business.
Consumers pay us on a monthly basis and then they get access to all of our services. And we have hundreds of thousands of customers and it's a very small team of only 14 people at this point. We are venturebacked.
So it's a series B company, but given the scale of the business and the efficiency, we're actually profitable. So about a year and a half ago, we started doing dividends for our shareholders. And we were one of the first um VC back companies to do that.
And interestingly, one of my friends in Silicon Valley said, "A company like Google would never pay a dividend. You shouldn't you shouldn't pay a dividend. And we paid it we paid our dividend.
And actually, I think a few months later, Google paid their first ever dividend. So very exciting. And I still run it every day.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- first-believer investing
- binary decisions
- momentum for pre-seed startups
- founder grit vs iq
- venture portfolio construction
Companies and tickers mentioned
- DoNotPay
- Figma
- Mercury
- Owner.com
Watch the episode
Watch “What Separates the Top 1% of GPs” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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How I Invest With David Weisburd, this episode and its artwork belong to David Weisburd. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
