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5 Things A Seed Stage Investor Is Looking For In Your Venture

by Indus Khaitan on Sep 29, 2009

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Domain expertise Execution capabilities. If unproven then past roles & education Team dynamics. Communication skills. Complimentary skills. Does the team know how to sell? How to build? How to acquire customers How did the founding team came together? Buddies? Alumni? Friends? Colleagues?
1000 crore market? Or 100 crore market? If sizing data for new markets may not exist. Do your own assessment, apply your gut feeling Don’t copy over US growth numbers to Indian demographics. They are different markets, use it for reality check Do small surveys between your friends & college network For existing markets, what is the growth? Who are the other players? How deep does the founding team understand the market
What is your product Proof of Concept or prototype is a MUST to validate. Have you talked to customers? Do you have sales pipeline? How much money someone is willing to pay What new markets can be created by your product? Will it create a ecosystem? Walmart has 100+ vendors who do not sell anything which is stocked on the shelves Has the team developed a similar product before
Who can copy? What are your defenses? Patents? What is your lead time at competition?
Is the company going to grow at 10% or 20% Will it attract institutional financing? Can it exit in 5-7 years at 100 crore revenues? Can it give me 10x returns? (OK that’s a myth but target the aggressive numbers) Who are the potential suitors in 5 years

5 Things a seed/idea stage investor is looking for in your venture Indus Khaitan Morpheus Venture Partners [email_address] http://morpheusventure.com/team/#Indus Sep 29, 2009
1. Team.
2. Market Size.
3. Product & POC.
4. Secret Sauce.
5. Growth Path & Exit.
Thanks! & About Morpheus
- Morpheus conducts a Business Acceleration Program every 6 months
- 10 startups are selected
- We invest 10-15 hours/week per startup
- 18 startups in our existing portfolio
Reality Check of Ventures in India
- Few seed stage investors
- Market Sizing data does not exist
- Very few people will work on equity
- Demand creation is key in unproven markets
- Patent regime is in infancy