Alex from Make It has experience helping very early-stage entrepreneurs
Alex explains that it usually is not very easy to find a startup that is in the early stages that fit his and Make It criteria.
Most of the startups already have or are working on an MVP, when they approach Alex. At that point, the startup has made very important decisions like the technology stack, product roadmap, features, and so on. Most of the companies even have their structure defined. Some are working on gaining customer traction. All this is because most of the investors want to see specific milestones hit by the startups before they consider investing. And founders are following the general public wisdom and advice given by the industry gurus and leaders.
What Alex and Make It want to see is that the founder is looking to figure out their customers first, start talking to these customers and engaging with them even before they define the actual product. Keep the idea clean and don’t put it in the frame of a specific technology, marketing plan and so on. It needs testing first.
Many founders are more on the technical side and it requires a tremendous effort and learning for them to achieve any marketing success. This is normal since their domain of expertise is completely different and the value they bring to the startup is based on a different set of skills. Learning how to market will take time and in the end, the result may be mediocre, at best.
This is where Alex and his team feel that they can bring the most value. They can take an idea and then work with the founders and teach them how to get that customer taction, understand your marketing potential and proper approaches to reach your customers.
Alex aims to bridge this gap and help with his experience and connections to get the startup to the level where it is going to be of interest to other investors and VCs.
One important point that we discussed was the fact that when you build your team, as a founder, you need to think strategically, not only from a tactical standpoint. Is this group of people going to be capable of getting the company to the next level? Are they ready to grow with the company?
This is a very difficult skill set to gain because it requires for the founder to understand and balance between immediate needs and understanding growing strategies. Many times the teams that start the company are not capable of scaling it or having the vision needed for the company to outsmart competitors and satisfy market needs. It requires understanding the need for speed in growth and development, balanced with the company’s capabilities and cash support.
As always, in our discussions, Alex brings extremely valuable points and a very fresh point of view about investing, risk and startup growth. The approach and Alex’s experience are new to the LA startup community, which is the sign of the arrival of a new leader on the investors market in Silicon Beach.
0 Comments