Friday, January 26, 2007

Starting Up - Post3 - What Do Venture Capitalists Want?

Seven Tricks To Sweep Mr Moneybags Off His Feet

• Value proposition: Highlight the key differentiators in end-user benefits, not technical superiority. Tell Mr VC why would consumers choose you over others.

• Business model: Talk about how you will make money from this business opportunity. Just showing an excel sheet with 5-year detailed projections is not going to help

• Customer: Study and understand the target customer thoroughly. Address the customer’s problem precisely. This reflects your clarity about the business opportunity

• Team:
Articulate why your team is the best suited to implement a particular business opportunity

• Market opportunity: Investors like big ideas with big markets. Be clear about who is going to buy your product/service and how much they would pay for it

• Risk factors: Know the market, financial, business model and execution risks to your plans

•Competitive landscape: Remember that competition is not just those providing a similar solution to yours, but all those addressing the same customer need through variety of approaches

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