Named to Business Insider’s “The Seed 100: The best early-stage investors” list for 2024, Nick Candito ’10 talks to Bryant magazine about his time building technology companies and transitioning into venture capital as the co-founder and managing director of Angel Collective Opportunity Fund.

In your Bryant days, was venture capital part of your vision?

“I knew I wanted to study business and play football, but I didn’t know much about technology, investing, and especially VC before I met (former Bryant board chair) Dave Beirne ’85.

“I got to know Dave’s son Matt because my roommate, Jackson Davis ’10, was his best friend at Aspen High School. We spent the Fourth of July with Dave, and I started talking to him about what he had done professionally and how he thinks about career opportunities and entrepreneurship.

“Fortunately, he became a friend and eventual mentor to me. Based mostly on his advice, I jumped into a small software startup after Bryant. Fast forward and I’ve now done five startups and started making small angel investments after the third one was acquired by Salesforce in 2014.”

Any stumbling blocks in those early years?

“Of course! I was actually fired from my first startup after bringing on my stepbrother. That was a somewhat special circumstance, but you quickly learn to pull yourself up. 

“In the same day, you can think: ‘Joining this company was the best decision of my life,’ and, ‘There is no chance this is going to work.’

“That feeling intensifies drastically when you are the founder and everything in the company is now your problem. Overall, though, success is not a straight line. You get really good at not feeling too high or too low and learning to appreciate the journey.”

What sets the successful investors apart?

“I often say that being an investor is an easy job to have but an incredibly difficult job to do well. You need to be intuitive and instinctive related to people. You don’t always have time to sit back and wait for complete information.

“Every investment is a one-way decision, meaning that once you wire the money, you are wed to that founder. What I try to do is give every company a better chance at success because I’m involved. They still do most of the work, but amazing things can happen between investors and entrepreneurs when everyone is obsessed with winning; the market/customer is ultimately the source of truth.”

How do you evaluate potential investments?

“Traditional investors do a lot of market mapping and then look back into the top opportunity areas. I don’t think about the ‘addressable market’ much at all. For me, it’s all about the inevitability of the team and product.

“I like folks who have a chip on their shoulder and some kind of additional motivation. They care an obsessive amount, and that’s the thing that you can’t sacrifice. They have this burning desire. They don’t know how to fail.

“Products evolve and teams can pivot. My best investments are all because someone willed them into existence. That’s the fun part — seeing from nothing to something.”

What opportunities do you foresee for early-stage investors?

“The hype around AI is real. We are still in the ‘early internet’ days of this wave of innovation, but it’s for sure the next big paradigm shift. I’m also interested in how technology will impact American defense, health, and traditional services businesses.

“My hope is that more Bryant alumni take what they learn in Smithfield and venture to get involved in technology and entrepreneurship.”

What’s an important skill to complement finance knowledge?

“My degree in Finance is helpful, but I don’t do much of that daily in my professional life. I’d say that communication is much more of a differentiator. Most of the capital in business flows based on storytelling, especially if you combine that with trust-built relationships.

“Understanding that all business is much more about relationships and motivation, that’s how anyone can apply an advantage to stand out.”