What To Look For In Entreprenuers ?

Recently, iAngels’ Founding Partners, Shelly Hod Moyal and Mor Assia, hosted a webinar for our investor community. The topic of the webinar was: “What Investors Should Look For in Entrepreneurs”.

The following is a rundown of the key points highlighted during the talk, and you can find a video summary of the webinar below.

The following is a list of ten key points, not in order of importance, outlining what investors should be looking for in entrepreneurs when considering an investment. People talk about team team team all that time, but what are we really looking for?

1. Commitment:

It is critical that the the founder is fully committed to the venture. Bootstrapping or having skin in the game goes to show that the founder is putting his money where is mouth is and is willing to take that personal risk in order to ensure company growth.

2. Research:

It is important to see that the founder has thought this through. The founder needs to show that he has done the market research, looked into the competitive landscape, and created an ambitious but achievable business plan that is not detached from market standards and expectation. If you can think of a question at an initial meeting that the founder does not know how to answer, the research wasn’t thorough enough.

3. Resilience

Founders need to be exemplars of resilience in order for them to be able to overcome challenges and work well together for many years.

4. Ego

When founders avoid becoming political and are not ego driven, you know that they are focusing on the business and not on their own agenda. It is important to understand the dynamic of the founding team.

5. Vertical Expertise

It is expected that a founder has decided to uproot his life and leave his previous job stability because there is something he is so passionate about, that he cannot live another day without making it a reality. This usually (but not always) means that the founder knows a thing or two about the space he wishes to enter.