2 min read When deciding on a venture, it is important to monitor a startup for progress before investing. At first blush, all investment opportunities look attractive. As the investigation progresses, the warts, blemishes, and challenges become clear.
Take Your Time
It’s important to monitor deals before investing as it takes at least three months for all of the relevant details about the deal to surface. It’s also important to assess the capability of the team. Steady progress with revenue, product development, and team deployment need to be measured.
The way the startup runs the campaign is a good proxy for how they will run the business.
Some come in and build out their documents expeditiously. They follow up with the investors in a timely manner and they are able to close an investment using strong communication skills. Others come in and have difficulty building out their pitch deck. They get distracted with other things in life and can’t follow up in a timely manner. Some have a hard time closing investors because their business is vague and the goal is fuzzy. This type of campaign indicates a weak team and makes for a questionable investment. It’s interesting to watch their investor relations campaign because it’s a good indicator of how they will run their sales campaign. At TEN Capital, we give updates about our deals’ progress. We rely on the startups to provide updates in the form of a campaign to give our investors ample time to monitor the deal before investing.
Read more on the TEN Capital eGuide: How to Invest in a Startup
Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network. TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group
