Roger Ehrenberg's check list applied
core criteria:
1) "2-3 person teams, with a CEO who is the product visionary" : NO, that's just me 2) "A strong technology lead" : YES, that's me :) 3) "A CEO who has infectious passion and intensity, yet is humble and coachable" : MAYBE, that's me again, but Google hadn't a CEO when they started either 4) "A business model that I can understand in 30 seconds without visual aids" : YES, I guess 5) "The company has a prototype/alpha version that is currently being challenged by users and generating feedback" : YES and NO, I'm finishing the prototype, but with limited feedback 6) "An ability to generate revenues in 6-9 months" : YES 7) "A business that needs no more than $1-$2 million in financing to become a $25-$50 million (exit value) company, simply by executing the core business plan" : YES and NO, I need less 100k and hope to get around 5m 8) "A business that has an inherent call option, that could boost its base-line exit value by at least 10x" : MAYBE
added criteria:
1) "Initially sells to the enterprise for branding, credibility, awareness and early revenues" : MAYBE, the product is targeting professionals, as well as the enterprise 2) "Can get to revenues within 6 months, tops" : YES/MAYBE 3) "Is sold on the basis of ROI, e.g., helps generate revenues or reduce headcount/costs" : YES/MAYBE, the product aims to reduce the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) 4) "Integrates easily with existing platforms and/or programs" : YES 5) "Either leverages existing open source programs or can itself become partially or fully open source" : YES 6) "Has multiple revenue streams, e.g., software, maintenance, services, etc." : MAYBE, there is always an opportunity to provide consulting when selling to the enterprise
well, I suppose there is no single check list that will apply ideally for anything, so what these answers mean to me and what I have to do first to have better chances for attracting investors (angels)?
1) find co-founders and CEO 2) get more feedback 3) switch to another idea with better exit projections 4) discover additional revenue streams 5) a combination of these 6) all of the above
Any thoughts?