???????? 7 ???? ?? ?????????? ??????????????????:?How do I evaluate before investing? ?? ?? ???????? ?? ?? ???? 1 ??????????? - Do I understand this space? If I don’t, I would stay away from them. I haven’t yet figured out NFT, Crypto, CBD and I am uncomfortable with D2C, fashion, life sciences, biotech. I would naturally be curious like anyone else, try and understand how all these spaces work but I was never able to get the conviction to invest in these. Maybe 1 or 2 via syndicates based on the syndicate memo, but never an individual investment, at least not yet. ?????????? ???? 2 - I refer to it as ???????? - ????????, ????????????????, ????????, ?????? [not a new acronym :) ]- different folks call it differently as PPPP - Problem, Proposal, People, Progress etc. Why TTTT and in that order? ?? -? ???????? - as an early stage investor, the startup may not have many data points other than relying on the past performance of the team.?For many first time founders, it goes by their previous work, the companies they have worked in etc. The "right mix" of the team. ?? -? ???????????????? - Traction is great for startups, either in terms of customers or VCs/investor traction. Many times there are no paying customers. If there is a pipeline of customers, lots of user or dedicated design partners working with "the team" they’ll figure something out (hopefully). If there are paying customers plus a pipeline then it makes things easier while evaluating. Just note that, Traction is not equal to paying customers. ?? -? ???????? - Do they have tech which is defensible? What are the barriers to entry for others? Is the tech superiorly different or will it end up being a new GTM which will get them customers? At the end of the day - is this tech really a differentiator and defensible or just an added feature to existing competition's product? ?? -??????? - Total Addressable Market - This is the total size of the market. The larger the market, more the chances of many companies surviving profitably. If the TAM is small and there's a lot of competition with very less differentiation between them, then it may not be lucrative from a business investment perspective. Market size nowadays are in the billion dollar range, so it’s a combination of TAM and the team’s GTM which will tell if the team can actually achieve tackling the TAM. Also, I love the team's which show how they will achieve bottom's up TAM. (Ex: Achieving 1% of $100B is great, but that's top down. Anyone can quote this.) Hope this helps. ???????? ???????????????? ???? ?????? ?????? ???? ???????????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????????????? ?? I have started the "10 posts on Angel Investing" on June 9th. I'll share some of my learnings, articles which helped me get started. Watch out for posts on Mondays. ?????? ?????? ???????????? ???? ?????????? ????????. ?????? ?????????????????? ???? ???????????????? ?????? ?????????? ???????? ???????? ??????????????. Cheers! #startups
