

Roger Ehrenberg's check list applied - AlexTheFounder

Investor Roger Ehrenberg has written a good piece of advice (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=324800) for the entrepreneurs starting a new business in current economy downtime. Being myself one of these crazy guys, I decided to take a shot at my venture and see how the check list really works.<p>core criteria:<p>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<p>added criteria:<p>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<p>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)?<p>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<p>Any thoughts?
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ram1024
i wouldn't change your core strategies if you believe them to be sound.

it's just that Roger might not be the angel for you is all.

stick with what you have an work on filling in the gaps or finding compelling
explanations as to why you don't need the things you're missing and why they
don't apply to your particular situation. you might not get Roger, but you'll
be more prepared for these kinds of questions from other investors

