1. A strong management team with relevant experience

We expect you to explain the relevant experience and domain expertise of your team. If the team is incomplete, we expect you to recognize who is needed to round out the team.

2. Technology that solves pressing needs

This is in contrast to a technology in search of a market.

3. Niche dominance

You must demonstrate that you can achieve at least a 25% market share in a well-defined niche (i.e., show how you can sell cost-effectively into that niche). The niche can be within an existing market (e.g., Amazon went after the on-line niche for booksellers); or it can be a new niche (e.g., Gadzoox Networks pioneered and coined the SAN niche – Storage Area Networks). Grand visions of a multi-billion dollar market is not attractive unless you can convincingly show how you will dominate that market. With few rare exceptions such as eMachines, dominating a billion-dollar market is usually not possible; and in eMachine's case, we doubt many would have believed that they could become the #3 PC company in less than one year.

4. High growth potential

This must be in either a developing market (e.g., Gadzoox Networks forecast the  development of the SAN market based on projected storage needs), or in an existing market. You must present a credible plan for achieving that growth, not a Chinese Glove Syndrome ("there are over a billion Chinese, we will sell 1% of them a pair of gloves at $20/pair, which gives us revenues of $200 million") without supporting data to show how you would sell them.

5. Sustainable competitive advantages

Some examples: a "blocking patent" (that can keep out competition); a vanity number (eg 1-800-WEDDING); a domain name (e.g., buy.com); "first-to-scale" advantage (i.e., show you already are the first company to achieve some scale in a new niche).

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"Tech Coast Angels understood our vision and the market's need for our products long before any traditional VC group would even grant us a meeting."
- Steve Streit, CEO, GreenDot