What Do Startup Investors Really Want?

I am often asked what do startup investors (seed, angel or venture) really want beside a ten to twenty times return on investment in five to seven years? I know that sounds greedy but most of their investments will not succeed. Thus, they need a few of their investments to scale for a decent ROI overtime.

That said, most investors look for the same things:

1. Prefer a founding team rather than a single founder
2. Has a competitive advantage
3. Has a viable business model (how will the startup make money?)
4. Potential for scaling and fast growth
5. Founder/s demonstrate strong character and must be coach-able
6. Awareness that an exit plan is required for outside investor participation
7. Founder/s must be willing to give up some control to outside investors
8. Able to protect market share (Intellectual Property preferred)
9. Talented founder/s with industry experience preferred
10. Ability to pitch the business concept
11. Startup must be local (this is changing for some)
12. Measurable sales traction

John Bradley Jackson
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