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The founding/management team is one of the critical areas investors look at in a startup. Usually the team is more important than the idea/product.

Investors like to see a proven track record of previous successes. But what if this is your first startup? How can a first time entrepreneur demonstrate his ability to execute if he doesn't have a prior business he can point to? What strategies can a first time entrepreneur follow to overcome this?

The immediate thing that comes to mind is talking about your successes while working for a previous employer, but that seems a bit weak to me. Is there a better way to answer this question?

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How much customer development have you done?

IMHO, validation of initial assumptions on product / market / demand / price elasticity is more important today if we're talking about digital goods / services without inventory carry costs. Proven customer metrics and clear understanding of the funnel + sales cycle times trumps a list of CxO titles.

Sure, you need to be able to pitch and yes, you need to have the ability to develop the product / MVP, but in this world of sub 1M series seed rounds, assembling a large team with a equally large burn rate isn't as much of a requirement these days.

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So basically having a proven track record is not as important as it may seem? I wasn't necessarily thinking expensive celebrity names with large burn rates, but more people that have quietly built successful companies. Maybe showing that you've made the right business decisions up to that point is enough. – Zuly Gonzalez♦ Jan 12 at 4:07
"proven" track record is somewhat of a loaded statement. In the case of Ycombinator, typical candidates don't have years of startup experience (you also don't get 1M funding upfront either). Its all relative - if you have a validated business model AND show the process / progress you've made on that AND justify how the money will be used to achieve 10X returns in a logical manner - a suitable risk / reward can be calculated by the investor. If its in their investment space, you have a good chance there. – jimg Jan 12 at 16:10

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