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What investors look for

Your table splits $200,000 across the R&D teams. Use this rubric while each team pitches: listen for the questions under each pillar, score it 1 to 5, and let your scores guide how much each team earns.

1

Listen

Each pillar lists what to listen for. Tick items off in your head as the team pitches.

2

Score

Give every pillar 1 to 5 using its score guide. Some pillars count more than others.

3

Invest

Your scores suggest how to split the $200,000. Adjust it, then explain each amount.

The 1–5 scale

  • MissingNot covered, or plainly wrong
  • WeakMentioned, but thin
  • PartialCovered, with real gaps
  • SolidStrong, with small gaps
  • ConvincingClear evidence you would bet on

Weights: Business Model counts half. Traction & Validation counts 1.5×. Every other pillar counts once. At the midpoint, what a team has learned from real customers matters most, and pricing can still be rough.

01

Problem

Counts once

Is this a real, painful problem, and how big is it?

Listen for

  • What does the problem cost the builders themselves? Time, money, annoyance
  • Who else has it, and how big is it? How many people, how many hours a week, how much money
  • How is the problem handled today? The current tool, workaround, or “just live with it”

Score guide

  1. MissingA vague or invented problem. No sense of who has it or what it costs.
  2. PartialA real problem the team has felt, but its size is a guess and today’s workarounds are barely covered.
  3. ConvincingPain measured in hours, dollars or frequency for a specific group, plus a clear picture of how people cope today and why that falls short.

Red flags

  • “Everyone has this problem.”
  • Only the founders’ own opinion
  • A solution looking for a problem
02

Customer & Market

Counts once

Who exactly is the customer, and does the team really know them?

Listen for

  • An ideal customer profile that is very specific. “Students” is too broad; “first-year engineering students who commute and work part-time” is the level of detail to look for
  • Who makes the decision? Is the person using it the same person who pays for it?
  • How many of these customers has the team talked to, and what did they learn?
  • A customer story: can they walk you through one target user’s day, as a real anecdote?

Score guide

  1. Missing“Our market is everyone.” No customer conversations.
  2. PartialA rough customer group and a few conversations, but no clear buyer and no concrete insight.
  3. ConvincingA sharp customer profile, a clear user and buyer, many conversations with specific insights, and a story that makes the customer feel real.

Red flags

  • Big top-down market numbers with no first customer
  • Mixing up the user and the buyer
  • Talking about “users” with no real person behind it

Before you score the next two

Solution and product are different things

Solution

What the world needs to fix the problem, whoever builds it. It describes the job, not the app.

“We need a ___ that does ___, ___ and ___.”

Product

What this team is building: their version of the solution, its key traits, and why it beats the alternatives.

“So we’re building ___. Unlike ___, it ___.”

A strong pitch states the solution first, then shows why their product is the best way to deliver it. Score them separately.

03

Solution

Counts once

What would the world need to fix this problem, no matter who builds it?

Listen for

  • The ideal answer, said plainly: “We need a ___ that does ___, ___ and ___.”
  • Does it follow from the problem and customer they just described?
  • Is it the simplest thing that would remove the pain?

Score guide

  1. MissingJumps straight to an app or a technology. No idea of what a good solution has to do.
  2. PartialNames what’s needed, but loosely, or it only partly matches the problem.
  3. ConvincingA crisp “we need a ___ that does ___” that clearly comes from the problem and customer.

Red flags

  • Opens with “we built an app”
  • A trendy technology with no reason it’s needed
  • Solves a different problem than the one they described
04

Product

Counts once

What are they building, and why is it better than the alternatives?

Listen for

  • What the product is and its key traits, in a sentence or two
  • Who the competitors are, including “do nothing” and spreadsheets
  • What sets them apart, and the gap in the market nobody covers yet
  • A demo, prototype, concept or user storyboard: how a user actually interacts with it and benefits

Score guide

  1. MissingOnly an idea. No picture of how anyone would use it, and competitors are ignored.
  2. PartialA concept or early prototype and a list of competitors, but what makes them different is vague.
  3. ConvincingA working demo or clear storyboard of a real user, and a sharp reason it beats what exists today.

Red flags

  • “We have no competitors.”
  • A feature list with no link to the problem
  • A demo that never shows the user getting the benefit
05

Business Model

Counts half

If it applies yet: who pays, how much, and why?

Early teams shouldn’t spend much of their pitch here. Reward clear thinking about price; don’t punish a model that isn’t finished.

Listen for

  • Who pays, if anyone yet?
  • How the price is set: by what it costs to make, by the value it adds for users, or by what competitors charge
  • Any sign someone would actually pay that price

Score guide

  1. MissingNo idea who would pay or why.
  2. PartialA believable payer and a rough price.
  3. ConvincingA specific price tied to the value users get, and a hint that someone would pay it.

Red flags

  • Revenue that only works at huge scale
  • A five-year revenue chart with no first customer
06

Traction & Validation

Counts 1.5×

What have they learned from real customers since kickoff?

This pillar is about actual customer discovery: real conversations with the people in their customer profile.

Listen for

  • How many real customer conversations they’ve had, and with whom
  • What surprised them, and what they changed because of it
  • Commitments such as sign-ups, pilots, pre-orders or letters of intent. Compliments don’t count
  • Usage numbers, if anything is live

Score guide

  1. MissingBuilt things, but talked to no one.
  2. PartialSome conversations, mostly with friends or people who said “cool idea”. Little changed because of them.
  3. ConvincingMany conversations with target customers, clear lessons, changes made because of them, and early commitments.

Red flags

  • Friends saying “cool idea” counted as validation
  • Surveys only, no conversations
  • Nothing changed since kickoff
07

Pitch Execution

Counts once

Did they tell a clear story and handle questions well?

Listen for

  • A clear story from problem to product to what’s next, inside the time limit
  • Slides and demo that help rather than distract
  • Direct answers in Q&A, including “we don’t know yet, and here’s how we’ll find out”
  • The whole team knows the material

Score guide

  1. MissingHard to follow, over time, or dodged questions.
  2. PartialClear enough, with a few gaps or rushed parts.
  3. ConvincingEasy to follow, on time, and handled tough questions honestly.

Red flags

  • Reading slides word for word
  • Dodging hard questions
  • Numbers that don’t add up

Giving useful feedback

  • Be specific. Point to a moment in the pitch, not a general feeling.
  • Name the one thing that would make you invest more. That is the team's homework before the final pitch.
  • Reward honesty. A team that names its risks is easier to back than one that hides them.
  • Back the team, not your friends. Your reasons are shared with the R&D teams.