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Aug.26
3:37 PM ET
Tuesday, 26 Aug 2008
Paul Lewis’ Investor Checklist
By Paul Lewis
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Paul Lewis |
TOP 5 MUST HAVES
1. The founder is energetic, sincere, and believable and has a vested interest in the company’s success
2. The company is profitable or has a clearly defined plan to become profitable in the near term
3. I clearly understand the product and its market potential
4. I would buy and use the product myself
5. I would tell others about the benefits of the product even if I did not make an investment
TOP 5 DEAL KILLERS
1. If I do not believe the founder is telling me the whole story or it sounds too good to be true
2. Part of the usage of funds is to “hire more sales people”
3. The start up has fancy new furniture... this means they're willing to spend their money in
4. I would not immediately buy 10 of these things and give them to my friends
5. If I cannot connect all the dots – that tells me something is missing
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes