This New Tool Tells You If Your Startup Is Ready For VC Funding

A new online tool wants to help companies work out when their startup is ready for VC funding.

Ready For VC is the result of a partnership between VC fund OpenOcean and cloud software company Platform.sh.

The service takes the form of an easy online quiz that maps your company against other startups in the same space, plotting its VC readiness and technical maturity on the grid.

The tool covers topics key to scaling a development team, including roadmap management, methodology, team organisation, deployment process, quality insurance disaster recovery and support strategies.

Fred Plais, co-founder and CEO of Platform.sh said: “During the arduous process of determining whether my own company was ready to apply for VC funding and face tech due diligence, I knew there had to be an easier way of streamlining the initial assessment.

“readyfor.VC’s results maps a company against other software startups in the same space and plots their VC-readiness and technical maturity on a grid.

“By asking the right questions, we will help tech founders focus on where they need to spend most of their time. Building software at all is hard, but coordinating and getting the very most out of your technical team is even harder.

“It requires bringing together deep technology skills, keeping an eye on a fast-evolving environment and then on top of that, possessing the managerial skills to get the most out of a team.”

The tool works by asking company CEOs and CTOs to sit down and complete a quiz together.

This quiz asks them to disclose information about their business, products, company ambitions and progress, before the tool deciphers how ready they are to start thinking about VC funding.

And according to Richard Muirhead, general partner of OpenOcean, Readyfor.vc will be used as part of the company’s discussions when it comes to evaluating potential portfolio companies and their tech maturity.

Muirhead said: “We’ve been conducting technical due diligence for startups for a long time now, doing it ourselves or  even when necessary including experts from our network.

“The readyfor.vc test is comprehensive enough to standardise the initial evaluation process. It makes it much easier to start an initial conversation with the founders, and move from there.”

To find out more about Ready For VC please click here.