| Risk Rating |
Minimal Risk |
Limited Risk |
Average Risk |
Above Average Risk |
High Risk |
Very High Risk |
| Company Perspective |
Mature stable company with a strong overall financial situation. Investment requires minimal monitoring. |
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Company with good overall financial situation. Investment requires some monitoring. |
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Company with an acceptable overall financial situation. Regular monitoring is required. |
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Company with some financial deficiencies or is incomplete or unproven. Requires close monitoring. |
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Company with weak or unstable financial situation. Requires turnaround level of monitoring. |
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Company with insufficient financial justification for the proposed business. Likely a start-up. |
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| Management Team |
Proven skills. Full management compliment. Strong Team, experienced in working together. |
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Proven skills. Have not worked together in past. Strong team in place. |
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Good skills, team may be missing one component but still good. |
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Deficient skills or management team. May be inexperienced. |
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Deficient with key skills or personnel missing. Incomplete management team or no team. |
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Entrepreneur with little or no management team identified or inexperienced entrepreneur or team. |
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| Product / Service |
Unique products with proven track record |
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Unique product or service with proven record. |
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Product or service with proven record. |
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Little or no track record, only one or two sales. |
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Little or no track record, no sales. |
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Incomplete product. Proof of concept stage. No track record. No customers. |
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| Technology |
Patented or very difficult to copy. Window > 1 year |
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Patented or very difficult to copy. Window >1year |
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Technical advantage of at least 6 months. |
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Limited tech advantage, less than 6 months. |
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Limited tech advantage, less than 6 months. |
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Unproven tech, no patents. |
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| Market Size |
Well-defined market being very large market – big potential opportunity. |
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Well-defined large market opportunity. |
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Well-defined medium market opportunity. |
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Not well -defined market, unclear opportunity. |
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Poorly defined / unclear market opportunity or a very small market. |
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Unproven market or no market analysis conducted. No market testing. |
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| Sales Plan Execution |
Strong sales plan. Strong marketing plan. With actual results. |
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Strong sales plan and marketing plan with actual results. |
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Good sales plan and marketing plan with limited results. |
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Poor sales plan and marketing plan with very limited results. |
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Poor sales plan and marketing plan with no results. Unproven. |
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No sales or marketing plan. |
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| Revenue Model Viability |
Large revenues, proven model, profitable |
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Solid revenues, proven model, profitable |
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Some revenues, proven model, break even. |
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Few revenues, proven model, break even or loss. |
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No revenues, unproven model, start up. |
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No revenues, no pricing plan, no models, start-up. |
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| Competition |
Limited or very few. Compelling differentiators. |
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Limited or very few. Compelling differentiators. |
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Limited or very few. Compelling differentiators. |
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Limited or very few. Compelling differentiators. |
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Limited or very few. Compelling differentiators. |
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Incomplete. Competition unknown, differentiation unproven. |
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| Strategic Partnerships |
At least 5 signed agreements. |
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At least 3 signed agreements. |
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At least 3 signed agreements. |
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Few agreements. But negotiations underway. |
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No agreements. Prospects identified. |
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No agreements and no prospects identified. |
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