So the first thing I look for in an investment, for a proposal, is simplicity.
Too often, entrepreneurs and founders, and people who start businesses,...
...overcomplicate their presentations and become extremely technical.
In fact, they're so technical that they try and blind one with science.
And one of the things that I try and do before I make an investment,...
...in fact, I do it in every case now,...
...is that I invite the entrepreneur and the founders of companies,...
...before I make that investment, to come to this very room...
...to sit around this table with my three teenage children and my wife...
...to explain to them what they are going to do,...
...how they are going to create their company and what the science behind it is.
Because I can be extremely confident...
...that if they are able to explain it to my teenage children, my wife and myself,...
...then they are also going to be able to explain it to nontechnical people,...
...overseas markets and people who are not early adopters.
The second thing I look for is something well researched.
Too often, an entrepreneur at the early stage...
...will be too focused on the technology that they are trying to resolve...
...and not enough on what will the business actually look like at the end of the day.
The other things that I would particularly recommend or particularly look at...
...is that I like a product to be widely or broadly applicable.
It's no good having the best chip on the planet that can only be used in a missile.
If that's the case, it's a very, very small niche market.
It's much better to have a chip that's not only used in a missile,...
...but also in a train, in a plane, in a car, in all forms of transport.
Something that I think cannot be underestimated...
...is a degree of realism in terms of the valuation.
Too many founders, too many entrepreneurs,...
...think that their piece of paper that they've written this business plan on...
...and this design of this product is worth ten million pounds today.
It's just an idea, it isn't a business.
Bringing the idea is easy.
Creating a business from an idea is incredibly difficult.
