Diligencing the Team

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In diligencing a startup for investment, the team is one of the most critical factors and the one that is most often overlooked by investors.

I see investors focus on the product, the market, and the competition and ignore the team assuming every skill is at the ready.

The first and most important characteristic to look for in the team is integrity.

If the team doesn’t have integrity, then nothing else will matter.

The next is tenacity. Most startups fail because the team got bored with the project and found some other shiny new thing to work on.

Next, assess their knowledge of the market. I see many CEOs pursue startups in a “hot” space in which they know very little.

The ones who succeed know the market well and in particular, know the customer very well. 

This is important because it accelerates the path to product-market fit. 

Finally, look for a CEO who can inspire confidence and has more than just confidence in himself.

Startups require confidence such that they can recruit employees and convert customers.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
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On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Gerald Gallagher, Venture Capital Manager at Healthworx.

Healthworx is a $100M healthcare fund that operates at the intersection of healthcare and innovation by creating, co-creating, and investing in Series A and B startups to improve healthcare quality, accessibility, and affordability. As the innovation and investment arm of CareFirst of Maryland, Inc., Healthworx envisions a healthier future for all people by changing the way health works.  

Gerald is a venture capital investor and attorney and has been on all three sides of the venture ecosystem: startup, investor, LP. He invests in fintech, insurtech, and digital health and is Interested in helping brilliant people solve big, complicated problems. Gerald is experienced in managing teams, projects, and accounts in client-facing roles. 

Gerald advises investors and entrepreneurs and shares some of the challenges they face. He discusses his investment thesis and the state of startup investing.

You can visit Healthworx at www.healthworx.com, and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/hwx.

Gerald can be contacted at gallaghgsc@gmail.com, on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/gerald-gallagher, and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/thatgerald. 

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For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org  

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/  

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group   

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.