Founders often complain that it’s unfair to ask a team at the pre-seed stage to have a tech advantage, as they’ve had no time to build. But there are some signals that the earliest stage investors are looking for:
1. Team Strength
Does your team have the skillset to build something difficult that doesn’t currently exist? Have they done that before?
2. Big Vision
Can you explain how your product will change the world over the long term, is that also a large and difficult technology problem? This vision may change over time, but having this mindset from the beginning is important.
3. Early Indications
Have you made good progress with the limited time you’ve had: do you have an impressive demo, is there a trusted 3rd party verifying your progress, do you have some early results showing how much better you might be?
Sterling Road invests in idea stage and pre-seed B2B startups based in the US, Canada and UK.
