The key role of the founder for startups

ELON Musk has clearly been the driving force behind SpaceX, Tesla, and more recently, Twitter. He founded SpaceX and made it a success. He took over Tesla and made it a market leader. Yet his recent actions after taking over Twitter have resulted in stock market losses for Tesla and advertisers leaving Twitter. The role of the entrepreneur in the fortunes of a startup cannot be overstated. Entrepreneurs stamp their personalities unto their startups, for both good and bad.

When investors assess the potential of a startup, they often have a checklist of several points. It ultimately comes down to two: Firstly, is there a sound business model and plan, which these days means one that shows a path to profitability in the medium term and not the long term?

This criterion can be assessed largely by tangibles: value proposition (why should we care?) or Unique Selling Point; market size and potential; burn rate; actual and potential competitors; actual and potential revenue numbers; and investment structure and roadmap.