Startup EcoSystem, Inc.

DealIQ™ How To

PLEASE READ THIS DOCUMENT to ENSURE the best result using the DealIQ™.

The Startup EcoSystem™ DealIQ™ is at the heart of our mantra of “deals led – diligence done” and is backed by more than 80 years of actual startup creation, deal planning, and due diligence done in a manner designed to ensure deal success.
On this page, you will find guidance concerning what we expect you will discover about your business and its investment offering as you complete the DealIQ™. Here you will discover and learn more about how the DealIQ™ provides you with a high-value tool by which you can evaluate, learn and tune the presentation of your business so that it is best able to present and secure funding from prospective investors.
At every stage of your business where you are seeking investor funding, you will need to be able to present the content and the condition of your business, its products or services, the management team experience, and your forecast or existing revenue. The Startup EcoSystem™ DealIQ™ guides you through a series of questions from which metrics are generated to best position your offering for consideration by investors. Each of the DealIQ™ fields contains instructional information on how to answer each question. The majority of form fields provided selection values and do not require long text answers! For each field on the DealIQ™ for which you may feel that you need to know more, look for the “Learn More” link that will take you to extend help about that field or section of the DealIQ™.

Each DealIQ™ section by section related information including:

    1. Who on the Founder team is most likely your best choice to complete each section
    2. What the informational objective of each section is, and how the content of each section helps you to make the best possible case to prospective investors
    3. The level of detail that the type of investor you want to take interest and invest in your business expect and need to see in your pitch
It is most important to note that there is nothing in the DealIQ™ that exists with the intention of penalizing your “score”. All questions and elements exist with the purpose of providing both Founders and potential investors with enlightenment. Every element is designed to quantify a potentially unmitigated risk to a founder and subsequently to investors. Being able to define any of the unmitigated risks that can be identified and quantified, such risks can be addressed with improved planning that leads to a confident operational decision.

The DealIQ™ contains both required and optional fields. The required fields are flagged with a red *. IMPORTANT NOTE – Choosing to skip optional fields will NOT enhance the score that you can earn when completing the DealIQ™. Choosing to provide answers, including uploading valid documents CAN positively influence your section and overall score resulting in a superior impression being made to prospective investors.

Primary Business Information – Classification & Lifecycle – Presentation – Market – Customers – Competition & Intellectual Property – Team & Experience – Approvals & Protection – Finance & Accounting – Current Round & Exit Strategy

Section 1 – Primary Business Information <top>

Here you will provide information about your business that establishes its existence, including corporate history & status and its physical and virtual presence.

  • Legal Identity
  • Physical identity or address
  • Web presence

This section can typically be completed by almost any member of your founding or executive team.

The typical time to complete this section is between 5 and 15 minutes.

Section 2 – Classification & Lifecycle <top>

Questions in this section classify your business and its offering in terms of its marketplace & market positioning, together with its lifecycle in terms of capitalization and commercialization.

This section is most often best completed by your business executive in the role of COO or CFO.

The typical time to complete this section is between 15 and 30 minutes.

Section 3 – Presentation <top>

In this section, we will collect information that introduces the subjective or persuasive case for your company being investable.

This section is most often best completed by your business executive in the role of CEO, VP of Sales or Marketing, or COO.

You will have the opportunity to upload files related to your business problem and solution, your pitch deck and similar information of interest to prospective investors.

The typical time to complete this section is between 10 and 30 minutes.

Section 4 – Market <top>

Without enough customers eager for the solution provided by your business, who are willing to pay enough to have it and that makes your company significantly profitable, there is no reward for founders and investors taking the risk.

Questions in this section quantify the market opportunity (size), solution-market fit (demand), and go-to-market strategy (reach) for your business.

This section is most often best completed by your business executive in the role of CEO, VP of Sales or Marketing, or COO.

The typical time to complete this section is between 15 and 30 minutes.

Section 5 – Customers <top>

To achieve success, a solid, and often evolving Go To Market or “GTM” strategy must be defined, subject to periodic review and update that most appropriately position your solution to attract consumers.

This section is most often best completed by your business executive in the role of CEO, CFO, or VP of Sales or Marketing.

The typical time to complete this section is between 10 and 15 minutes.

Section 6 – Competition and Intellectual Property <top>

Intellectual property protection helps, yet it is never the total solution to defending an innovation. Having keen insight that understands what drives customer aspirations should result in distinctive solutions that is hard for others to duplicate. Questions in this section quantify the threats to a company’s success presented by others who are competing for the same customer dollars.

This section is most often best completed by your business executive in the role of CEO, COO, or CFO.

The typical time to complete this section is between 10 and 25 minutes depending on the existence and nature of the intellectual property associated with your business and its product or service offerings.

Section 7 – Team & Experience <top>

The primary reasons that great business ideas fail are not external to a startup. They are internal. Questions in this section quantify the team’s ability to construct and execute detailed strategic business plans that are likely to produce a return on investment. Included are questions concerning the members and experience of your management team, and your board of directors and/or advisors.

This section is most often best completed by your business executive in the role of CFO, COO, or HR executive or manager.

The typical time to complete this section is between 10 and 20 minutes.

Section 8 – Approvals & Protection <top>

Even free and open markets have many rules of compliance and fair dealing that, if violated, can end a company overnight. Questions in this section quantify the costs of adhering to the rules of trade so that progress does not get interrupted by a governing authority or legal proceeding.

This section is most often best completed by your business executive in the role of CEO, CFO, or COO.

The typical time to complete this section is between 5 and 20 minutes depending on the requirements for regulatory or other approvals that may be required for your business, its products, and services.

If no approvals or business-related licenses are required, this section will be skipped.

Section 9 – Finance & Accounting <top>

Ultimately, starting and investing in companies is a financial proposition. The first inputs are monetary, the fuel for the engine is monetary, and the final outputs and ultimate measure of success are monetary. Questions in this section turn plans developed so far into currency measures so that investors can evaluate the financial assumptions being made by the company as well as its room for error and still maintain liquidity.

The content of this section in terms of informational detail most often proves to be a critical factor in enabling potential investors to have a clear picture of your business potential and can serve as motivation for investment in your offering.

This section is most often best completed by your business executive in the role of CFO, Treasurer, or COO.

The typical time to complete this section is between 20 and 40 minutes.

Section 10 – Exit Strategy and Current Round Detail <top>

Here you define the most important elements of your request for funding together with providing your forecast concerning the most likely opportunities for a successful exit that may be enjoyed by your business and its investors.

This section is most often best completed by your business executive in the role of CEO, COO, or CFO.

The typical time to complete this section is between 15 and 30 minutes.