The Management Team
This is quite possibly this is the most important critical ingredient for the investor to get their head around. Did you know Wholesale Investor Magazine regularly surveys its 10,000 investor members and the Management Team comes in the top 3 every time, ahead of financials, ahead of business plan, and quality of the pitch. Not that those are not important, they are, but the quality of the management team is top!
There are some key ingredients to a quality management team that the investor is looking for that if the following are present you will find that their judgement of the team’s ability to take their money and return it them with a substantial profit will be enhanced. I emphasise the word “judgement” because this is the area can be quite subjectivity. A lot will boil down to the chemistry between entrepreneur / management team and the combined assessment of the following attributes that the investor will explore. Perhaps not with the same structured approach as presented here. But their intuition will speak out – their “gut” feel. Consider these attributes and apply your own self-assessment:
Integrity – it has been said many times that the number one attribute that the entrepreneur needs to demonstrate is integrity.
Trust – you are being judged on ultimately taking someone else’s money and making it work. Are you naturally someone who the investor can trust? Is everything you have said verifiable for example.
Experience – Do you and or the team have deep Industry experience. Additionally, the more the evidence of having done it before, the higher the probability of attention.
Vision – the more crystal clear the vision and the more that the team has bought into this vision, the better.
Multi-disciplined – the smaller the team the more multi-disciplined the individuals need to be. Many hats need to be worn by few people in the early days.
Leadership – the greater the need for “a team” as opposed to sole entrepreneur with an idea, the greater the need for strong leader to be present in that team to lead them to success
Coachable – most investors will have an opinion, they are highly unlikely to write a check and leave you to your own devices and come back in 3 years to see how you went. They will want you to be open to advice, moreover in the earlier the stages of the business the more likely you will need help and advice. The question is, how accepting will you be of this advice. How coachable will you be?
Passion – passion breads passion. The more there, is the more energy will flow around the venture. But passion alone without direction of course can be very dangerous. Passion alongside all these other attributes is very powerful.
Professionalism – the more professional you and your team conduct yourself, the more you look like past success stories. How many unprofessional outfits succeed?
Feet on the ground – this works in with the need for passion. If passion exists, but you have off the scale beliefs on how the world works or what you can achieve with this venture, it will send alarm bells off.
Question: How do you present this in ll you communications – your pitch, business plan and information memorandums?
Answer: Everywhere.
I would verify everything you do, you say and how you say it against this list. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just appropriate.
