We suspect that when you acquire or make a significant investment in an early-stage company, your investment colleagues always consider the risk and suitability of the entrepreneur and those close to them, to take the company to the next stage. You know that the entrepreneur knows their products or services, but you will be asking yourself questions such as: *Does the entrepreneur have the required management experience and skills to handle the issues in functional areas where they feel less at ease (e.g. manufacturing, supply challenges, customer challenges, channel issues, industrial relations challenges, stakeholder management, marketing, and so on?) *Do they have the leadership skills to increase headcount and at the same time keep their people motivated and engaged? Creating a product, idea or concept is one thing; but can they manage the growth and all its implications? *Is the entrepreneur ready to keep focused on running the business and…
Lowering the risk of early-stage investment
