David Cummings on Startups

Investment Readiness Level

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David Cummings

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Last night Keith McGreggor tweeted a picture laying out the characteristics of the Investment Readiness Level (IRL). After seeing it, I was impressed as seed and early stage angel investors often invest based on the team, the market, and gut feel — a very unscientific process. With the Investment Readiness Level, there’s a barometer of progress that brings much more rigor to the evaluation.

Here’s the Investment Readiness Level, based on the picture of the slide:

  • High-fidelity MVP
  • Sufficient market opportunity
  • Left side of canvas validation
  • Right side of canvas validation
  • Product / market fit
  • Problem / solution validation
  • Low-fidelity MVP
  • Canvas
  • Hypotheses

So, the next time an entrepreneur is trying to raise money, have them evaluate their Investment Readiness Level using these attributes.

What else? What are your thoughts on the Investment Readiness Level?

Comments

5 responses to “Investment Readiness Level”

  1. Todd Lindenbaum Avatar
    Todd Lindenbaum

    David,

    What do the high-fidelity / low-fidelity MVP’s mean?

    Reply
    1. Baker Avatar
      Baker

      I believe it is Minimum Viable Product

      Reply
  2. Daryl Avatar
    Daryl

    Per Lean Startup: “Product Fidelity: How similar is the MVP to the end product? (A software prototype has a higher fidelity than a paper mockup).”

    Reply
  3. Nat Milburn Avatar
    Nat Milburn

    David, agreed and thanks for continuing the discussion on IRL. We must increase the rate of early stage capital flow and speed of investments in ATL’s startup ecosystem. The sooner more founders (and angels!) adopt a bit more rigor in understanding these criteria, the better our startup ecosystem will be. I have also found Keith’s “The Other Side of the Canvas” presentation on slideshare.com helpful for both parties in the process.

    Reply
  4. joost1960 Avatar
    joost1960

    David, thanks for transcribing this. For your more casual readers, this list should be read in bottom to top order, with high fidelity MVP indicating the highest level of ‘readiness’. What remains is the determination of criteria of what makes for a complete canvas, for instance, to determine if that level has been reached, sustainably.

    Reply

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