Our best investor candidates are those that have made investments similar to ours but not necessarily direct competitors.

For example, if we were starting Uber, we wouldn’t necessarily look for the investors in Lyft, a direct competitor.

Instead, we’d consider the following:

• Similar Industries. Transportation, Logistics, or Automotive startups.
• Similar Customers. Young, mobile friendly city-dwellers.
• Similar Market Types. B2B, Marketplaces, Direct to Consumer, Non-Profit

We save ourselves a ton of time when we see that investors have already made a similar investment because we know they have had comfort – and ideally success – in a business that’s like ours.