#007 The "Right" Founder

Founder fit - a common term used by VCs when they speak about making investments. Of course there is no standard definition for this … varies for every VC and needs to be understood better for every investor.

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Here’s how we define it:

1. Founder-Market Fit
2. We are B2B tech investors and invest in deep-in-domain solutions; clearly the founders we back need to be from the specific domain in which they are trying to solve business problems. Typically our founders have anything between a decade or two of hard-core work-experience in the domains they are building solutions for … one wouldn’t expect a kid fresh from college to solve real-business problems of meaning & value!
3. Product-Market Fit
4. We like startups who have built a decent revenue stream and have a healthy pipeline; our intent is to invest in helping them build on the traction they have already achieved. Obviously if a startup is generating a million dollars in revenue, there is demonstrable product-market fit that has been achieved!
5. Founder-Fund Fit
6. Beyond the founder’s domain expertise and the product’s market acceptance, we care about aligning with the founder’s vision for the company. Clearly if we are aligned on the mission we will do wonders together… if we aren’t … it’s not worth the time and effort for either! Therefore we believe it’s very critical for us to align with the founders view of where she/he want to take their company, else our fund is not the right fit for them.

These are our simple thumb-rules for identifying which founders ‘have the power’!!!

- Abhishek

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