Reverse Criteria for Deal Flow

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Investors often have criteria for the startups they are looking for.

Some investors also have reverse criteria for deal flow to point out startups they will not fund.

Here's a sample list of reverse criteria:

Solo founders

Many successful startups have at least two founders.

Lack of a technical founder on the team.

Most successful startups have a technical lead in place.

No track record.

Some investors look for a founder who has had an exit previously and has started more than one business.

Lack of emotional intelligence.

While many investors look for intelligence, the true test is emotional intelligence.

This comes out in how well they work with others.

Small target market.

Some startups are making a go of it in a small market.

This may make it difficult to scale later.

No clear exit strategy.

It's often the case that the startup has no exit strategy in place.

Investors look for a clear path to an exit.

Consider creating a list of reverse criteria for your startup investing, as it will save you time in reviewing deal flow.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let's go startup something today.

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For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
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On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Max Schuster, entrepreneur, startup investor, and marketing lead at Capacura, a German venture capital firm focused on impact investing. Capacura specializes in education technology, health technology, and climate technology, backing companies where scalable business models directly correlate with scalable social and environmental impact; the firm first vets economic viability, then applies an impact filter, narrowing thousands of annual applications down to roughly 10 investments.

Max shares his path from early stock market investing into entrepreneurship and venture capital, and outlines Capacura's early-stage evaluation criteria—team, timing, business plan, idea, and investor synergy—along with common investor misconceptions around betting on "the next Facebook" versus diversification and evidence-based selection.

He explains how Capacura uses AI and data to screen pitch decks, aggregate internet signals, and assess trends, discusses healthcare tailwinds from demographic shifts and innovations like automation, robotics, and precision diagnostics, and mentions Capacura's investment in TimeTeller in chronomedicine. He also covers why Capacura is making startup investing more accessible to individual investors and how founders can benefit from that network effect.

Visit Capacura at www.capacura.de/

Reach out to at www.linkedin.com/in/startupmax/ , and on max.schuster@capacura.de

________________________________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https:/_/tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

The Many Challenges in Angel Investing

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Angel investing comes with many challenges.

Here's a list of how to deal with them:

One's angel investing experience will inform one's investment thesis.

That's why every angel brings a unique perspective to the process.

It takes more than intelligence to win at angel investing.

It requires emotional intelligence as well.

The one who can control impulses will do better than those who don't.

Taxes on the gains are an issue.

Every angel investor should study how to mitigate taxes throughout the investment process.

Choosing the winners at the earliest stages is often difficult.

There are many exogenous factors that come into play before the exit.

Look for the basics in a startup -- strong team, compelling product, and large market.

A product is not a company.

It takes a team, a customer, and a market as well.

Optimism is required to achieve success.

Pessimism alone will not succeed.

Look for what will work in addition to what might go wrong.

Avoid the overly complex and stick to the simple.

Consider these principles when facing challenges in angel investing.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let's go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.