About a year ago, I wrote a blog post that’s been one of my most-read posts to date. The post was all about why and how startups should define their market size to generate investor interest and excitement.
I still firmly believe this is one of the most important things startups can do.
And yet, Reilly and I continue to turn down company after company that approaches GAN Ventures without a market size large enough for investment.
Rather than keeping all of this feedback internal — sharing it only with founders who approach us for funding — I thought it might be useful to share publicly. What I’m hoping to do is not only help startups better understand what we’re looking for at GAN Ventures (and why) but to understand, as a whole, the type of market that’s generally required for a venture capital-level investment.
Let’s Start with a Bit of VC 101
Here’s a bit of background that might be helpful.
Traditionally, venture funds have been set up with some foundational principles —
- Hunting Unicorns: Venture capital funding has traditionally been designed for high-risk/high-reward investments. VCs have historically invested in moonshot ideas — ideas that, on the surface, don’t seem entirely plausible but, should they take off…
