TEDCO Investment Readiness Assessment Tool - Questionnaire

Answer the following questions in a way that best describes your company. Be honest and thoughtful in your responses. The use of this tool is solely for the purpose of helping you understand your company's stage of maturity and the steps you need to take to best position your company for a TEDCO investment.

There are 9 questions. The assessment should take you less than 5 minutes.

 
1. Please select the best description of your team.
 
 

I am the sole founder and have not yet recruited others to my team.
 

We are a small team with clear knowledge gaps and have identified a couple of informal advisors who are providing some advice on an ad hoc basis.
 

We are a growing team with diverse expertise (technical, management, finance, etc.) and have engaged a number of advisors who are meeting with us on a regular basis.
 

We have a solid team with few or no knowledge gaps. We have the sales and marketing expertise needed to generate revenues, and we have a formal board consisting of investors, founders, and others.
 
2. Select the best description of your team's technical ability related to designing, building, and testing your product.
 
 

We will need to add additional technical expertise to our team and/or outsource product development or testing.
 

We feel strongly that we can manage most of the product development but will need to outsource a portion of the work.
 

We are confident that we can build and test the product ourselves because we have done it in the past.
 
3. Select the best description of your team's prior experience and connections in your company's industry sector including knowledge of sales cycles, channel strategies, and pricing models.
 
 

We thoroughly understand the problem that our company's product is trying to solve, but do not have a thorough understanding of business operations in this sector and do not have strong connections to strategic partners and customers.
 

We have operational experience in another industry sector and generally understand how products are sold and delivered to customers in our sector; however, we have not yet developed strong relationships with key strategic partners/customers.
 

We have developed strong industry contacts (first name basis) with strategic partners and/or large customers and have gained an understanding of marketing requirements in our sector.
 

We are currently selling products to customers.
 

None of the above.
 
4. Select the best description of your team's understanding of your customers' problem.
 
 

We have personally experienced the problem, understand its urgency, and can describe the business opportunity associated with solving the problem.
 

We understand how all current solutions are solving the problem and can describe why we have the ability to deliver a better solution.
 

We have beta-tested a prototype of our product with small groups of customers and validated that the problem can be solved to the degree claimed by the company.
 

We have demonstrated through sales traction that large groups of customers are willing to pay for our company's solution to solve their problem.
 

None of the above.
 
5. Select the best description of the stage of development of your product.
 
 

We have a clear, detailed list of specifications for our product and/or a product design but have not started building and testing our product.
 

We have a basic prototype of our device and have successfully tested it, and we have a detailed understanding of the time and costs associated with developing a commercial-ready product.
 

We have a commercial-ready, minimum viable product, which has been tested with a small number of customers.
 

We have a customer-ready product that is ready for sale or being sold.
 

None of the above.
 
6. Select the best description of your understanding of your market.
 
 

We have conducted a thorough market analysis including: market segmentation, selecting initial and secondary target markets, and a competitor analysis.
 

We have conducted 50 to 100 customer interviews to validate the assumptions made in our market analysis and incorporated customer feedback into our product development and marketing strategies.
 

We have validated our market through beta testing in an initial target market, and we have a marketing strategy for expanding to other market segments.
 

We have beta users converting to paying customers and churn rates within forecasted estimates.
 

None of the above.
 
7. Select the best description of your business model.
 
 

We have developed a viable revenue/pricing model and validated that our approach is acceptable to customers.
 

We have evidence suggesting that our product would be viable in multiple market segments and we have developed a 5-year financial projection with major assumptions validated.
 

We have a clear strategy for moving into multiple market segments over the course of five years and incorporated that strategy into a 5-year financial projection with major and minor assumptions validated.
 

Our financial projections and major and minor assumptions have held up to the scrutiny of an examination by potential investors.
 

None of the above.
 
8. Your business opportunity represents a total addressable market (number of potential customers x the price of your product) of more than $500 million and your company is projected to grow to at least $10 million in revenues in five years.
 
 

Yes
 

No
 

Not sure
 
9. Select the best description of your fundraising efforts.
 
 

We have a clear and viable financing strategy to achieve our next significant milestone/value inflection point, and we have identified likely sources of funding.
 

We have secured at least $50K of funding through a friends and family round, boot strapping, crowd-sourcing, or an SBIR/STTR Phase I grant.
 

We have secured at least $150K from one or more angels, economic development programs, or through a SBIR/STTR Phase II grant, and we have revenues or have a viable path to generating revenues in the next 3 to 6 months.
 

None of the above.