{"id":7028062,"date":"2026-08-05T05:58:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/angel-investor\/a-great-startup-idea-doesnt-make-a-great-startup-business-pitching-angels\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T05:58:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:58:09","slug":"a-great-startup-idea-doesnt-make-a-great-startup-business-pitching-angels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7028062","title":{"rendered":"A Great Startup Idea Doesn\u2019t Make A Great Startup Business \u2013 Pitching Angels"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Execution beats ideas when it comes to building a startup<\/h3>\n

If I had a nickel for every great idea\u2026<\/p>\n

As head of pre-screening for an angel group, I get pitched a lot of great ideas. Wonderful ideas. Fantastic research topics. Brilliant PhD studies. And most are, unfortunately, bad investments. Even the ones that might become great startups someday are not viable investments now.<\/p>\n

This is news to most founders who think that investors invest in ideas. They refine those ideas, assemble beautiful pitch decks (though most early-stage decks are word salads covered with ketchup on a powerpoint bun), and spend the six months with their hands out asking investors for funds to bring those ideas to fruition.<\/p>\n

They spend all day applying to VCs, then wonder why they\u2019re not getting responses. They spam anyone on LinkedIn with investor or angel in their profile and get frustrated at the lack of success.<\/p>\n

So how much is that idea worth? I want to say a nickel, but that\u2019s dating myself. With inflation and tariffs, a fair price in 2026 is somewhere around 57 cents. For a really good idea, I might be prepared to pay a full dollar.<\/p>\n

The $10M valuations founders are proposing would be farcical if the founders weren\u2019t so damn serious. And the growth-stage VCs egging them on, telling founders they\u2019re selling themselves short if they accept anything less than $20M for their brilliant ideas, are right up there among the most misguided advice ever. (Notice those same VCs won\u2019t actually invest at that valuation.)<\/p>\n

Most Successful Startups Are Obvious Ideas Done Well<\/h3>\n

I know your idea is brilliant. I\u2019m just not sure that matters. I hear a lot of pitches for converting waste food, waste organic material, or waste plastics into virgin plastic or sustainable aviation fuel. I fully embrace the idea. But the economics usually mean it\u2019s bound to fail. You just haven\u2019t figure out all your costs yet, or all the complications of scaling production. It makes for a great pitch but is unlikely to succeed.<\/p>\n

So what does succeed? Usually, it\u2019s obvious ideas that are done well. Bubbly water with fruit flavoring or canned cocktails. Reusable rockets and space-based internet. A free alternative to Adobe. An online spreadsheet for cap tables. An online calendar tool. A SaaS version of everything. Other than the rockets, these aren\u2019t rocket science.<\/p>\n

What made these companies successful? A bit of dumb luck \u2014 being at the right place at the right time with the right product. But mostly execution. Finding customers, mastering messaging, putting together the right team at each stage. Not the idea which was available for the taking and had occurred to millions of people who said, \u201cIf only there was a free design tool I could use instead of paying $100 per month to Adobe?\u201d<\/p>\n

What Do Investors Invest In?<\/h3>\n

If you thought \u201cearly-stage investor\u201d meant pre-product, apologies for the confusion. \u201cEarly-stage\u201d generally means somewhere from a few tens of thousands in MRR to tens of millions. It doesn\u2019t mean ideation or even development.<\/p>\n

So if investors won\u2019t invest in ideas, no matter how brilliant, what do they invest in? The answer is simple: we invest in businesses. Not ideas. Not pitch decks. Not business plans. Businesses.<\/p>\n

More specifically, venture investors (VCs and angels) invest in businesses that hold the promise of growing to $100M within 5\u20137 years and getting acquired for 10x to 100x the investment price.<\/p>\n

Execution > Ideas<\/h3>\n

Growing a business to $10M in revenues is a tough challenge that few founders ever hit. $100M in revenue isn\u2019t 10x harder, it\u2019s more like a thousand times more difficult. Can you? That\u2019s what we want to know before we invest. It\u2019s easy to come up with great ideas. It\u2019s not much of a challenge to throw together a decent pitch deck. It\u2019s a lot more difficult to build a big business from scratch.<\/p>\n

Execution takes skills in engineering, sales, marketing, operations, customer support, QA, finance, accounting, legal, and HR (and I\u2019m sure I\u2019m missing a few more). It requires hiring and managing a team and dealing with employee conflict. Ideas sound great until someone has to build them. And that someone isn\u2019t a nameless group of corporate warriors; it\u2019s the founders.<\/p>\n

Big companies have separate departments filled with specialists and big budgets for all those functions. Startups have a founder or two, perhaps a few employees, and no budget. Ideas don\u2019t matter; it\u2019s all about execution.<\/p>\n

Can you execute? Before investing, we want to see evidence. That usually means initial revenue. Can you get the product to the stage where customers are willing to pay? That transforms the pitch from vaporware into an operating business.<\/p>\n

Once there\u2019s revenue, there\u2019s a real product and real market signals. We can talk to actual customers and see if it fits their needs. We can check if you know how to build a commercial product and deal with customer support. We can see if you know how to hire and manage a team, apply for patents, deal with regulations and taxes, and discuss finances like a pro. In other words, can you execute on building a business?<\/p>\n

At that point, you\u2019re ready to begin pitching investors.<\/p>\n

But\u2026but\u2026but\u2026I need money now!<\/h3>\n

You have a great idea. But you need money to build it. If investors won\u2019t stump up the cash to pay for development, how can you get your startup off the ground?!?<\/p>\n

There are ways to fund your idea. But it\u2019s not venture capital and it\u2019s not angel investors, so stop wasting your time. Here\u2019s the places to look for initial funding if you absolutely need it:<\/p>\n