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I recently joined the Orange Collective as a venture partner to invest in the most promising startups of the W24 and upcoming S24 batch. Here are 3 key aspects I've learned to prioritize when evaluating early stage companies: 1. Evaluating Founder-Market Fit: Assessing whether the founding team has the relevant experience, domain expertise, and passion to tackle the problem they're solving. 2. Analyzing Traction: Examining a startup's early traction and growth metrics to gauge product-market fit. Super important in the current market 3. Selling Vision: Evaluating a founder's ability to articulate a compelling vision and sell their story. There's a surprising amount of overlap between the ability to sell a product and the ability to sell a vision. Ultimately, true venture is a huge bet on the founding team at the earliest stages. Even if your fundraising experience isn't smooth sailing (it rarely is), that isn't indicative of future success. Just keep going 💪
