“Good founders make things happen the way they want. Which is not to say they force things to happen in a predefined way. Good founders have a healthy respect for reality. But they are relentlessly resourceful. You want to fund people who are relentlessly resourceful.” Paul Graham
For those who want to jump into the funding world, we’ve prepared for you this checklist based on the advice of some of the top Angels from the west. Different factors to consider before Investing in a startup; from what to evaluate in a team to what to look for in a product, check out these key points:
Key points to focus, before investing in a startup
Entrepreneur Team: As Ron Conway said “Well, we invest in people. I’m not looking at their idea. I’m looking at: Are they a leader? Are they focused on their product? Can they attract the team? What are the cofounders like? I can tell within three minutes.” So what should you look for in a team? For Naval Ravikant there must be 2 to 3 founders, and he highlights that intelligence, energy, and integrity are a must for any team.
“You want someone in the company who can build and someone who can sell and if there’s going to be an imbalance; it should, probably, be in favor of the builder.” Naval Ravikant
Product: Of course product is one of the main things to evaluate when deciding to fund a startup. Rutger Kemper explains in his thesis that an Angel Investor should look for a product that is attractive to the consumer and easy to adapt. Also checking the legal department to see in which ways the product can be protected is a good idea.
“Don’t go right into angel funding. Use your credit cards, do anything you can so that by the time you go to angels you have built a working prototype and have some users. You’ll likely be valued higher and will suffer less dilution.” Ron Conway
Market: The last category on this checklist is the market, Reid Hoffman explained that “the formula is to build an audience with a great product – then secure enough funding to figure out how to make it pay.”Naval Ravikant recommends not investing in companies that haven’t made contact with their target customers. That’s why, once again, Rutger Kemper emphasizes the importance that the startup you are planning to fund has a realistic marketing strategy, has engaged its customers and that their product or service has real opportunities in the market.
“If you can recognize good startup founders by empathizing with them—if you both resonate at the same frequency—then you may already be a better startup picker than the median professional VC.” Paul Graham
If you have any questions about investing in a startup, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, we’ll be more than happy to answer all of them!
