A smart-ass team with a kick-ass product in a big ass market. You will find this quote at the back of Jeff's business card, as it summarizes the three things that we are looking for in an opportunity: fantastic entrepreneurs, a great product and a market that is big enough to create/grow or disrupt. But to be clear:
Entrepreneurs > Product > Market
When you factor all the ingredients (and the bit of luck) that are necessary to lead a startup from inception to a successful outcome - however big or small, the Founders make up more than half of these. But we have learnt the hard way that great entrepreneurs can come up with sucky products in non-markets. That's why we are forcing ourselves to look for these three components in most opportunities SoftTech invests in.
If you get a chance to read Do More Faster: TechStars Lessons to Accelerate Your Startup by our good friends Brad Feld and David Cohen - a fantastic compilation of entrepreneurship tips and tricks - you will see Jeff's chapter on The Three Asses Rules (we're still amazed the tag line made it through the editing process by the way).
