What Investors Look For When Evaluating Your Pitch: Flat6Labs CEO Ramez M. El-Serafy At Flat6Labs, choosing a startup to invest in involves a multi-stage selection process.
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At Flat6Labs, we mainly select the startups based on three main criteria:
1. THE TEAM. This is, by far, the most important element in our decision making and due diligence process. It's very important at the early stage of the business to make sure that the team possess all the needed skills to get the product done, enter the market and grow the company afterwards. That's why at Flat6Labs we apply a multi-stage selection process that involves personal interviews, assessment tests and a one-week bootcamp where we get to educate the entrepreneurs, and at the same time observe their team dynamics and how they respond to feedback. Also, the dedication of the team and the right mix of technical/business talent are fundamental in any successful startup.
2. THE PRODUCT. It's very important for us to pick projects that are innovative by design and have high potential for growth, they should be solving a real challenge or a problem that a sizable number of potential customers/users are facing. Also the way the product will be developed and presented to the market is essential to decide if this is a promising venture/investment opportunity that we would like to partake in or not.
3. THE MARKET. Many startups have solid teams and wonderful products, but they sometimes miss the right product-market fit, or they might not have a clear knowledge of the size of the market or its dynamics. This is always a red flag for us; if the entrepreneur hasn't done his/her thorough homework to understand the market and the competition. We also prefer to invest in startups that have potential to scale into various market sectors in the future, or geographically into new markets- either regionally or internationally.
