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Endorsements
Here's what some of the most successful venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and CEOs in the world think of The Gauntlet
Chris Smart (IDG Ventures)
"The VC industry thrives on quality deal flow. I expect The Gauntlet will make a significant contribution to improving this by equipping entrepreneurs with the perspectives that venture firms bring to the table. The more entrepreneurs understand how we view their businesses, the more considered and complete their preparation will be. This will have direct benefits on fund-raising productivity because both parties will be able to focus on the few fundamental issues that arise in every investment proposition rather than the VC spending time educating entrepreneurs and teasing out of them the value embedded in the business opportunity."
Lord Sainsbury (Science and Innovation Minister)
"Promoting and supporting entrepreneurs is vital to the continuing success of the UK economy. We cannot afford to let a lack of investment readiness hold back enterprising companies. The Gauntlet offers the potential to help prepare a new generation of entrepreneurs to expand their companies and contribute to the strength of the UK economy."
Andy Hopper (Professor of Computer Technology, University of Cambridge)
"Over the past 25 years I have founded eleven high-tech companies, many of which have their origins in the university. One of the major challenges these companies face is that while they are endowed with great technology and brilliant engineers, the founders can lack commercial experience and don't know how to set about developing and funding their businesses - nothing in their lives up to this point has equipped them. They will really appreciate The Gauntlet. It is structured, doesn't pull punches and provides the kind of learning experience that will help them avoid the pitfalls and build better businesses, faster."
Ernie Richardson (CEO MTI)
"Fund raising for entrepreneurs is often a frustrating and impenetrable experience, because venture investors rarely provide the real reasons why they choose not to invest. This state of affairs serves nobody's interests with entrepreneurs baffled as to how they can improve their proposals and investors bemoaning the lack of good quality propositions. Now with the launch of The Gauntlet service, entrepreneurs can help themselves by understanding how investors think. In essence, by responding to The Gauntlet questions about their company, it provides an entrepreneur with a blue-print, built on feed back from the system, which will significantly improve their business prospects and put their company in a better position for future investment. MTI regards The Gauntlet as a potentially profound mechanism for improving the quality of venture investments being made in the UK."
Warren East (CEO, ARM)
"The Gauntlet self-assessment program appears to be an excellent initiative, which will help drive growth of innovation-based companies in the UK. Typically, it is much easier to work with knowledgeable and experienced companies. By going through the self-assessment program, private technology companies should emerge better equipped for whatever the future has in store for them."
Ilian P. Iliev (Co-founder and Joint CEO, DiagnovIS)
"The Gauntlet has helped me to reassess the assumptions behind my business and think from the investor's perspective. It has allowed me to gain access to the kind of expertise that is hard to find in the real world. I now feel much better prepared to look for funding for DiagnovIS from VCs, NGOs and charities."
Julie Hamilton (Founder and CEO of Mavrix Connect)
"The Gauntlet provides entrepreneurs like me with the much needed 'inside track' on how investors think that doesn't seem readily available anywhere-else. The Gauntlet removes many of the mysteries and pit holes of the VC funding process that we were finding and experiencing first hand.
By showing us clearly where we had gaps and problems, The Gauntlet enabled us to see things we never knew or could see before. The clarity in which it communicated, through easy to understand visualisations with what was needed, has allowed us to concentrate our attention to specific critical issues that were missing."
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