投资者寻找什么When Evaluating Your Pitch: Mohammed Al-Ayouti, Managing Director, Vodafone Ventures EgyptMohammed Al-Ayouti, Managing Director, Vodafone Ventures Egypt on what he looks for in startups and entrepreneurs vying for funding.
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When considering an investment pitch, here are the first five things I look for:
1.TEAM
The fact that a team exists is the first filter. I don't like single-founder startups, let alone one-man shows. Theteam members have to share the same vision, both short-term and long-term, and the key team members have to be dedicated to the startup- not employed elsewhere, or even worse, juggling other startups.
2. PROVEN ABILITY TO EXECUTE
Can the entrepreneurs pull it off? This would be most apparent by how the startup has progressed so far, but can also be assessed from their track record in previous startups, and/or their career experience.
3. MARKET UNDERSTANDING
Does the teamunderstand the space they're in? Do they know their competitors? Also, I stay away from entrepreneurs who say it's an X billion dollar market so if we get 1% we'll be great. The question is how will you achieve that 1%? Bottomup sizing beats top-down sizing in my book.
4. COACHABILITY
From experience, the odds of success for an entrepreneur who is always "right' are very slim. It's very likely that the startup will change direction a few times along the road as it seeks its product-market fit, and the CEO has to show that he or she will listen and respond to feedback.
5. HUNGER
Are the entrepreneurs out there to create a lifestyle business or are they setting out to do 100x growth? A big watch-out here is founder compensation: entrepreneurs seeking large salaries imply that theyseek comfortor aren't confident about their startup, and that they are diverting a large chunk of the investment -given that we're in early stage- straight to their pockets."
