Ash Rust builds relationships with founders before money is ever involved, limits himself to about 7–8 investments a year so he can coach each company closely, and pays close attention to how founders handle pressure when a lot of money is on the line—often encouraging them to win early customers through hands-on, high-touch service rather than rushing to polish their product. His path to investing is unusually varied, having studied computer science at Oxford, served as a British Army officer, founded and run a startup, and worked in ranking and engineering roles before becoming a venture investor.