5 things I look for when giving feedback to entrepreneurs

I’m active in the Venture Cup network as a pro-bono activity. My purpose in being part of the network is to give back to the world, as I received help from others on my path when I first started out in my career over 20 years ago. It’s my way of paying it forward.

I love to help other people and teach what I know. In that spirit, I want to share what I look for when giving feedback to entrepreneurs in the Venture Cup Sweden IDEA 2022 competition.

To give a little more context to you who may not be familiar with what this competition is about;

• people or start-ups enter the competition to pitch and elaborate on a business idea that they have
• The revenue of the business is below 100 000 SEK (in today’s exchange rate that is approx € 9 350)

My aim is to look at this through the same lens as when I choose to invest my own money into the stock market. So in the spirit of sharing, here are a few key points that I use when I evaluate the contributions on the platform: 

1/ Clarity – how is the idea articulated, is it clear? Do I understand this idea without having in-depth knowledge of the field from the information supplied?

2/ Customer value – Who is the end customer and how well does the contribution fit the end-customer needs? what is the value? what is the existing behaviour and how well does the idea fit with a target audience? 

3/ The market – has the person done due diligence in market research? and understand the specific niche and why someone would choose their solution above another already existing solution in the marketplace. 

4/ Sustainability – if The UN Sustainable Development Goals are mentioned – is the entire process considered for the product in question? from transportation to manufacturing?

5/ A gold star goes – to everyone that has taken the time to elaborate on the business model and risks associated with their idea at this stage (as it’s business ideas that they compete with)

I hope this gives you a bit of inspiration on your path to what to prepare when pitching your business ideas to others.