As an investor what are immediate red flags that deter you from investments?

Poor articulation of the problem being solved and poor demonstration of the size of the market.

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Hi Sir David , you are exactly what I want to be. My question is, how can I promote myself, positioning as both real Estate Entrepreneur & Lending Investor... because curre...

Answered by David Rose – Serial entrepreneur and investor.

Realistically, those two areas are ones where self promotion has virtually no effect. They are both "show me" businesses. If you're a real estate entrepreneur, just go out ... (more)

I have a real passion for small start-up technology companies and would love to get involved as an investor! What advice would you give someone who wanted to become an inve...

Answered by Mark MacLeod – Partner, Real Ventures

why don't we chat about it? Feel free to email me at mark@realventures.com. We do a lot of co-investments with angels. 11 out of the 15 deals we did in our 1st fund were co... (more)

What is the ideal way of approaching your so-called 'pay' when you're founding a start-up and looking for investors? This is because I'm getting conflicting views on these...

Answered by Mark MacLeod – Partner, Real Ventures

There is no one way. Founders that pay themselves a high salary is definitely a red flag. We just funded a company where the founders did not pay themselves until we funded... (more)

Lots of people talk about how investors evaluate startups (I'd love to hear what you look at specifically) but I don't hear a lot of people talk about how investors evaluat...

Answered by David Hornik – Partner, August Capital Posted in Management Money

When evaluating entrepreneurs, VCs do two things: 1) they spend time with them and get to know them. Sure, some of it is a gut feel. Do you like the person? Do you thin... (more)

I am a hard worker and passionate about web development. I believe the best way to build a great product is to be it's own user. Unfortunately, I have yet to find an idea f...

Answered by Benjamin Yoskovitz – Partner, Year One Labs

You don't necessarily have to scratch your own itch with a product for it to be successful. In fact, there's something to be said for going into a market that's less tech s... (more)

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