How to position your products for investment

Most start-ups with products beyond the beta stage are better off getting funding through direct engagements with VC’s and angels, products that have some traction can easily be introduced to the funding arm of the ecosystem if some basics and not so basic things are in place.

Startup narrative: The narrative of the startup and its product must be clear, there can be no patent, employee, ownership or copyright issues. The investor is less like to invest in a product with any form of ambiguity in the above.

A business registration in Nigeria and US (Delaware LLC), clear team members with vested stock options including that of the founder and co-founders will improve your product narrative

Founder and team: The strategy of most investors is to cash out at IPO or on an acquisition, for that to happen the investor wants to guarantee that the founder and their team are in it for the long haul (at least till one of the above happens). The team most likely to get funding is one with a track record of success or even failure (they are called experienced) founder or and team, I believe this gives them some assurance of a likelihood of startup success.

The founder will also be required to play founder functions like speaking engagements and participation in community activities to improve their visibility.

Improve traction: Products with paying customers and repeat paying customers are more likely than products without one to be funded beyond seed funding (usually less than 250,000 USD). You might want to actually market the products to get a proper customer base (investors know of the buying user from India trick and will usually audit user base and finances if a substantial investment is going to be made).

You will need to implement a proper traction strategy for all the products that will allow for organic growth

Just ask: For start-ups looking for a first-time investment round, getting a lead investor usually helps, ie someone who is willing to invest and encourage others to, some start-ups even hire special investment lawyers to draw up their terms sheets and talk to VC’s and angels on their behalf, but the goal is just to ask, sell the idea to as many people as possible who can invest and iterate the pitch based on their feedback.

The founder for the product should be ready to do a lot of talking and selling of the idea.

Did I miss anything out, please write it in the comment section