Venture capital firms review various financial metrics and figures when evaluating potential investments. Some of these include total addressable market (TAM), revenue growth, cost of sales, margins, and more. VCs assess the management team, including its background, education, and experience. Generally, they prefer to invest in startups with professional founding teams.
Screening
Venture capitalists like Brad Kern are looking for investments with high returns. They know they risk their money by investing in new businesses, so they spend a lot of time vetting potential opportunities to ensure they have the right ingredients for success. This includes management team strength, market opportunity, and a solid product.
They also focus on sectors with a good track record of government regulation. Industries with a history of regulatory interference and a poor track record of financial performance may have little chance of receiving funding. VCs are typically evaluating hundreds of potential deals a month.
The screening process helps them narrow their list of prospects and decides to invest in a business less risky. Having all the necessary information ready for review speeds up the process. Make a professional impression by assigning someone to coordinate the preparation of due diligence binders and responses to investor requests. This will help you stay on top of requests and avoid costly delays.
Due Diligence
As the name suggests, due diligence is a rigorous investigation of a business opportunity. It differs from the buying-side process for mature companies because venture capital investments are less predictable and tend to involve startups with no track record or even a prototype of their product.
For this reason, VC due diligence has its own unique set of requirements. The focus is on assessing the potential for future innovation and disruption of existing markets rather than the stability of current operations. This includes evaluating the quality, uniqueness, and market appeal of the startup’s products and its ability to bring them to market and scale its operations.
It also requires confirming the products meet customers’ needs and preferences through customer validation processes such as gathering user feedback.
Pre-Investment Meetings
The VC’s first meeting with you and your team is essential because it’s a chance to evaluate whether they think your value proposition can be monetized. However, it’s also a chance for you to prove that you are prepared to do what it takes to exploit that value proposition.
Most VCs will decide during this meeting based on their perception of your enthusiasm and readiness to proceed with the project. However, presenting too much passion and messianic exuberance can quickly turn into a red flag. It’s also worth mentioning that, according to our survey results, almost all VCs expect their portfolio companies to outperform the market in relative terms.
As such, it’s essential to focus your presentation on your unique advantages and how you plan to monetize them. You can be invited to a second meeting if you show that your plan is feasible.
Post-Investment
The investment due diligence process can be a long and complicated one. Both sides will agree on the areas the process will cover and how much information can be provided. This is often done in two stages, with restrictions lifted only once the investor has committed to the transaction.
A virtual data room is frequently used to facilitate the process. Once the investment due diligence is completed, a report will be prepared by the VC’s lawyers. This may be a red-flags-only report or include a more comprehensive assessment of the company’s suitability for investment. Startups should ensure they’re ready to cooperate with the due diligence process and understand what it entails. Studies have shown a strong correlation between the extent of due diligence and the performance of venture capital investments. A failure to conduct adequate due diligence can prove disastrous for a promising startup.
