FUNDING is a buzz word for all the entrepreneurs particularly in the seed level, the majority of the people search for ‘the questions from the investor,’ ‘how to get funding,’ ‘whom to approach for funding’ etc.

I would advise, feel as an investor just for two hours and evaluate how to get good returns on your investment. That’s what I did in this article, and this is a vital exercise to get your entrepreneurial skills out.

1.What is your Expertise:

I prefer to invest in the startup which matches to one of your skills so you can have a lot of advantage as.

1. It is easier for me to access the company and the entrepreneur.
2. You can help out many things.
3. Understand their language.
4. Can have a good association.
5. Your skills and your network’s skills can be leveraged.
6. Can monitor and organize the things quickly and efficiently.

2.The Founder: (I love a man with below qualities)

1. A guy who is serious about his passion and the dream.
2. A man who has some ethics and business values.
3. Who is capable enough to make right decisions?.
4. Who is pretty focused towards the goal.
5. The presence of mind and the maturity level towards the market.
6. Much interested in the execution of an idea rather than salary.
7. The maturity to handle the team.
8. Ready to involve all the activities until the venture scales up.

3.The Team:

The team, it means a lot to the venture so make sure the right team in place to handle with a good amount of mixture various skills, senior, juniors. Trust me this is a most difficult task in any start-up. Take enough care before you invest.

4.The Co-founder:

The co-founder is pretty important as you can’t depend on one person. Apparently, in the absence of the founder, another guy should be in a position to take the horse into his hands and start the ride otherwise my money would go for a toss.

5.Target customers:

What set of clients need this product? How to reach the customers? Which income group they belongs to? How frequently will this product be used? All these questions are critical as we should know the client better otherwise the product will be placed to sell in the wrong place.

6.The need of product:

Is the product attempting to solve a problem which got right amount people requires the solution? What is the need? Is it affordable to the customer? Is it too early to launch the product to catch the market?

For instance, let’s assume a scenario, you wanted to talk to a person directly who is very far away.

If the same person virtually stands in front of you and have a chat with just one click how good it is? Making of this product may cost a lot which can’t be affordable for ordinary people and too early to market, so need of product is critical.

7.The financial plan:

Of course, you should know where my money is being spent. Do the entrepreneur stick to the plan which was shared? How can you guide them to prepare the financials, financial planning is a crucial part to make decisions in startups, it ‘s hard to determine where to spend and where to hold. The majority of times we realize it is not the way to spend the money, you could have spent in a different way. Each stage of the startup demands more investment into one department. For instance,

Seed stage spends would be more on infrastructure and set up the team.

Scaling up stage spend would be more on advertisement and sales

Wrong projection can lead to a wrong exit

Narasimha Mohan

8.Marketing Strategy:

Though you have a unique and high-quality product, without having a right marketing strategy in place, it is a nightmare to penetrate the market. Marketing is as important as quality so you would take enough care to reach the product to right customers at the right time.

9.Plan for next three years:

You should be keen on next three years because the evolution of the product is more important to sustain in the market, millions of the products are getting died as there is no adequate development.

10.The competition:

Competition is another big animal to deal with if you don’t know how to deal? it kills you so that you would verify the plan of action for the competitor.

11.Stake dilution and ROI:

My honest answer: You will take the maximum advantage to take the maximum stake, any investor would attempt to so the same. Consequently, if you want to have the big stake, you and your product have to be proved enough. I would suggest being always in the position of letting the investor chase you instead you chase the investor.

Of course, every investment should have good return otherwise why should you invest and take the pain. When and how much returns do get for the investment you made?.

All the best and Get funded 🙂

Also, read this article: Crowdfunding is a bad choice for startups?

Narasimha Mohan

He is the Author, Product Specialist, Business Consultant, Entrepreneur, Public Speaker, Thought provoking writer, and Joke writer. Follow him on Twitter