Some common mistakes that entrepreneurs and founders make when they’re coming to angel investors is to not talk about why they’re passionate and committed to the cause, to demonstrate a lack of commitment or some type of basic willingness to say that forces outside of their control are going to dictate whether their business is a success or failure. You really want an entrepreneur that takes ownership of everything that’s going around, that knows that they’re going to be the difference between success and failure.
And another thing is that many entrepreneurs ask if you want to sign an NDA and that shows a bunch of naivety around the topic of how a startup is going to become successful.
You really want an entrepreneur that takes ownership of everything that’s going around, that knows that they’re going to be the difference between success and failure.
And another thing is that many entrepreneurs ask if you want to sign an NDA and that shows a bunch of naivety around the topic of how a startup is going to become successful.
Entrepreneurs will often say that they’re not working on the project full time.
Entrepreneurs will sometimes – I won’t say lie, but – I’ll say they get too optimistic.
I think so many founders don’t realize that the first time you talk to someone isn’t going to be when you write them a check. You’re probably going to talk to them for several weeks, months, a year, something like that depending on the velocity of the operation before you write that check. And the reason is, because you want to see how someone performs throughout that time. You tell me you’re going to do “x”, I talk to you in a week or a month and did you do “x”?
So, I think that a big mistake that entrepreneurs make is to not be really, really cautious with the expectations that they’re setting with the angel investor. If you say you’re going to do something, do it, because the fundamental thing that you’re saying is, ‘if you give me money, I’m going to give you more money back.’ And if you can’t get the small thing right by finishing off this small plan or bringing in this customer, the odds that you’re going to do the big thing right are diminished in the eyes of the investor.