Most founders think the team pillar is about their background, their degrees, and past companies. While that does play a role in your team, other factors come into play. Investors are actually asking one question: Would I trust this person to figure it out when things go sideways?

So the first thing that investors evaluate in a team is domain expertise. You have to have domain expertise in the core problem, not just general startup experience. This shows the investors that you have invested time and energy into learning this space. Truthfully, you as a founder should do this and make sure you can prove this before you go after investment. If you don't have this just yet, spend at least six months to a year creating content in your space. That's going to build a lot of trust and respect within the market.

Second on the list is founding team coverage. You've got to have somebody who builds, somebody who sells, and you'll probably have a gap. That's fine. You need to know what that gap is, be able to identify it, and if you need funding to close it, you can tell that to the investor as well. The main key factors that have to be covered in the beginning are somebody that can sell. If nobody can sell, you're going to have a problem. You yourself as the founder are probably the builder, so you just need to add in the gaps there as well.

Lastly, investors want to know the why now, why us test. Can this founder articulate why they specifically are the right person for this problem at this moment? This is probably the hardest one to prove because, truthfully, there is no magic pill or perfect answer here. The best way to show investors that you're the person to work on this problem and now is to have industry knowledge. This is when you know the data of your competition. You know the pricing people are using. You might even have some insight into their marketing strategies and methods they've used to get customers. The more information you know about the industry and the sector, the better off you'll be in this team conversation.

One of the most common red flags in the team conversation with investors is being a solo founder with no technical background and no co-founder. That's just a massive, massive red flag. That means you have a lot of gaps to fill, because who's going to build a product? If you always have to outsource and pay for somebody else to build, that's going to cost a lot of money and it's going to move really slow. You don't want to move that slow.

You, as a founder, have to have somebody in place that can build and sell. It's also a red flag if you have a founding team where everyone has the same background. Two MBAs who never shipped the product is a pattern investors recognize immediately. It might sound good to you on paper, but investors are not intrigued by that combination. From my conversations with investors, the best pairing is the MBA with someone who is a builder. That's like the perfect balance, so that you, as a founder, can build and then somebody else can sell. Then you cover both of the main bases with ease.

Literally every investor has told me that they want to know why the founder they're talking to is the founder that should solve this specific problem right now. You have to be prepared for this question and have a very specific answer in mind. You should paint the way you see the future, talk about specific skills that you've acquired over time, and definitely mention any pipelines you've already developed. If you already have a pipeline where you can connect with customers or distribution is built into your product, then you can win. Bringing up your specific moat is going to be a major advantage for you.

I definitely think this is something that founders should specifically practice for, because, as I said, every investor asks this question. I think some investors will put money into your startup and you as a founder when they see you putting the work in a specific area. You eliminate competition by the work that you do. Having that concrete proof is what will separate you from everybody else within the same space. Somebody else could have the same exact idea, but you're going to get a better result because you've put in a certain amount of work that they just can't compete with.

Your team score isn't about LinkedIn. It's about whether an investor can look at your founding unit and see a team that can attract people, make decisions under pressure, and survive the hard moments that are coming. If you're not sure where you land, that's exactly what the fundability review is for.

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🎙️ Chris