Impress investors with the fact that you not only know who your first 100/1000 customers are and the competitors who are presently serving them or competing for their attention, but can go further and answer some of the deeper questions.

• What fundamentally drives demand in the market?
• Why are customers looking for a product like yours?
• Why they can’t presently find it in the market?
• Why are competitors failing these customers?
• What’s the best solution to satisfy the unmet or latent demand?
• Why now is the right time?

Be the experts on the topic of your target customers and market segment. To paraphrase the famous investor and entrepreneur Peter Thiel, “a good start-up should have discovered a big secret – that secret is how your team can crack open a market and by doing so make a lot of customers happy and investors a lot of money.”

The number one reason for investors to invest in a start-up is the team’s qualities, so build it before you raise; but what does a great team look like?

• Credible – Why should an investor believe in anything you say? If they do, it will be primarily because the team has domain expertise, sector experience and preferably has someone with experience as an entrepreneur. If the entrepreneur in your team has built and exited a company whilst making money from past investors, then it scores at all levels and you would find it relatively easier to raise your initial funding.
• Trustworthy – If an investor is going to invest and work with you for at least 3–5 years until a return can be seen, it is imperative that there is mutual trust.
• Likeable – It is preferable that you both like each other. Always research your investors before diving into the deal to ensure that you believe in them and their philosophy.
• Capable – The Hipster-Hacker-Hustler model for the perfect team is that you must have someone in your core team who can
  • design a product based on unique customer insights (the Hipster)
  • lead on building the product (the Hacker)
  • sell to customers and investors (the Hustler)
• All Star – The best team has a combination of factors that gives the impression to investors that you are the best people in the world to take the start-up forward.

Impress investors with the fact that you not only know who your first 100/1000 customers are and the competitors who are presently serving them or competing for their attention, but can go further and answer some of the deeper questions.

• What fundamentally drives demand in the market?
• Why are customers looking for a product like yours?
• Why they can’t presently find it in the market?
• Why are competitors failing these customers?
• What’s the best solution to satisfy the unmet or latent demand?
• Why now is the right time?

Be the experts on the topic of your target customers and market segment. To paraphrase the famous investor and entrepreneur Peter Thiel, “a good start-up should have discovered a big secret – that secret is how your team can crack open a market and by doing so make a lot of customers happy and investors a lot of money.”