What You Should Know Before Seeking Funding
July 2, 2007 – 8:59 pmWhile presenting the ThemBid.com concept to a group of CEO’s, City Officials and University Faculty, I had the pleasure to meet the President of the Inland Empire Network of the Tech Coast Angels, Michael Napoli. He shared some key factors that investors look for when funding a startup. Following is a summary taken from one of his websites, the Absolute Return Group.
- Know your market opportunity and the size of the market.
- Know your competition and your competitive advantages. Why will you succeed over the competition?
- Have a clearly defined marketing plan for the launch or initial stages of selling your product/service.
- Highlight the track record of the management team and accomplishments that are relative to your company’s goals and objectives.
- What are your funding needs? Be specific and project out 3 to 5 years.
- Why should someone invest in your company?
One Response to “What You Should Know Before Seeking Funding”
Good list.
As someone who is still trying to get funding, I’d like to add that in some ways it’s a beauty contest for the management team. If you’ve got a “sexy” management team, you’ll already have that other stuff and funding should be easier. From what I hear (from both those who have bootstrapped and those who have gotten funding) is that there is quite a bit of herd mentality that goes on.
By Daniel Markham on Jul 3, 2007