The Three T’s

Here is a presentation I put together last year that looks at a few topics.

• Whether to seek VC money and what to think of before you embark on the process;
• What a Venture Capitalist looks for and how to get fund-raising off on the right foot;
• A brief explanation of some of the typical terms you might find in a termsheet; and
• Recommendations on how to prioritise which VC to work with when you have multiple offers.

One of the topics introduced is the “Three Ts” (Team, Technology, Traction) which is my crude framework for prioritising investments. I typically don’t agonise about finding good reasons and robust intellectual arguments for not doing a deal. Generally we just look at these three factors for a Company and hope to find something exceptional in at least one of them. Obviously team is important but occasionally, particularly in the internet area we come across phenomena which have gained amazing traction, even though the team may not on the face of it have enormous experience. These situations can be just as exciting. As I outline in the presentation, it is more interesting to have an A* against one of the “Three Ts” rather than having an unexceptional B+ across the board.

There are a few other points covered in the presentation which I may return to future posts. Thanks to Ryan Carson for letting me present this at his event.