What we look for:
1) Market
Large and growing addressable markets or high-value problem to solve.
2) Team
Passionate, coachable, diverse founders with deep empathy for your customers. Demonstrated product proof points through paying customers or active pilots.
Most important skill set for founding team: Hacker (technical capabilities), Hustler (customer development) and Designer. Teams should be LEAN and have focus.
3) Tech
Innovation rooted in next-generation technologies. All the stuff CMU founders are good at: Robotics, Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Human-Computer Design, Advanced Materials, Security, Business Model Design, etc. We look for unfair competitive advantage delivered by recent technical or market changes.
4) Timing
A plausible "Why now? What recently changed to create this opportunity now?” If someone else has tried it before, how is it different this time?
5) Traction
It is rare that 99 Tartans will invest in a company that does not have paying customers, customer pilots or LOI’s in effect. This indicates some level of product-market fit which is needed prior to our investment.
Requirements
1) CMU Founder
The company must have a full-time founder/co-founder that is a CMU student, faculty member, or alumnus.
2) Alumni Lead Investor
In order to proceed with an investment, you need to have an Alumni Lead Investor. An Alumni Lead is the individual who leads the diligence process on behalf of 99 Tartans members. They are your champion for the investment with other individual members. The ideal Alumni Lead has a pre-existing relationship with the company or founders. They could be a current investor or advisor. Alumni Leads with credibility in your industry or other key aspects of your business are critical for the personal credibility needed to convince other members of the opportunity.
You are encouraged to network (Linkedin and Angel List) and find an experienced potential angel investor who could be an Alumni Lead.
If you apply without an Alumni Lead, the MBA Partners will circular your information with a subset of members who qualify to lead investments.
3) Active Round
99 Tartans does not lead rounds or set round terms. We do not invest in party rounds where the terms are set by the company. We do not invest when we are the only investor. We participate in rounds (mostly convertible) with terms set by a sophisticated angel or fund.
Benefits
99 Tartans will provide you with a comfortable community to get honest feedback about your startup, learn how to improve your pitch to attract the next round of investors and expand your network of CMU alumni. We strive to not only provide the financing you need but support you through mentorship with our hundreds of investing alumni and expertise from all industries.
Not Ready Yet?
If you don’t feel like you meet the criteria above yet or if the 99 Tartans group decides you are not at a stage where we are ready to invest, there are many CMU resources at your disposal to help you prepare and come back to 99 Tartans. We highly recommend you contact a Swartz Center Entrepreneur in Residence, apply to Project Olympus, or to the VentureBridge Accelerator
Founders, apply here
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