growvc

Over the past few months at Grow VC we’ve implemented several new features to our platform. The backbone of these are Scorecards, Evaluations and Suggestions. Essentially scorecards are the items created in order to do an evaluation. They contain the details of what the evaluation will concern. In the case of our example, it concerns first impressions of the startup and their planning. One of the most notable features, is the evaluation function. This allows members to rate or evaluate startups within our service or series of networks. This includes rating between 1-5 usually and detailed suggestions for improvements which are then sent to the startup. With these feature, we are able to add value to both startups and investors. The feedback provided to the startups allows them to further develop the company and improve their next evaluation score. Likewise, investors or early stake holders can evaluate a startup and can watch the progress of business development as the startup responds to each suggestion. Doing so also can also be beneficial to the reputation of the startup, entrepreneur or funder as it adds to the engagement on the platform as well as a hint of due diligence.

How to:
When in a startup profile click the “evaluate” button, then you will be able to select any of the available scorecards from the list to use for their evaluation. In case of an invitation to evaluate, view the evaluation event notification by clicking the link in the startups listed. This will take the evaluator directly to the startup evaluation with the preset scorecard open on top of startup profile.

The actual evaluation is done with the scorecard being open in the bottom of the page on top of the startup profile. This way the evaluator can easily see all details available in the startup profile. Naturally the evaluation can also be based on any other information available to the evaluator from the startup in question; being that an offline event, pitch, meeting, or with previously known details.

By hovering the mouse over the evaluation topic name, the evaluator can see the description and by hovering above the value it will show the value description. This is done to make sure the evaluator can choose the most suitable value for his/her evaluation. Hovering the mouse over the evaluation item name will show a description and hovering the mouse over a single definition value will show the explanation of that value. The evaluator can select the proper definition values that best fit to each evaluation point in his/her own opinion from the definition available. In addition, the evaluator can add notes and then save or cancel the evaluation.

Evaluation results:
Each evaluation will record time & date, evaluator name, startup name that is being evaluated and event details along with the values selected per evaluator (each evaluator does their own evaluation). In addition each evaluator can also add their own additional text notes. Evaluation details are saved per evaluator and per startup being evaluated.

There is a view to see evaluation results per evaluation event. It is a list view that shows all related information based on the evaluations given. Each evaluator can see their own evaluations given. The Network team can see the evaluations given in their own network and startups can see the evaluations given from their startup along with the suggestions provided from each score level. Sharing the information to the startup about who did each of the evaluation is set by each evaluator independently.

I believe that the best part about the evaluation process is the anonymity. We give members the option to be anonymous for those who feel less comfortable, which may be a concern when critiquing startups. Our current scorecard on the platform has been titled, “Reality Check” and for good reason. There are big opportunities and there are niche ones, but either of the two can be truly HUGE. The Reality is that the startup ecosystem, as well as the financial system, is rapidly changing and with the Jobs Act being passed many more opportunities are being born. This makes it the perfect time so stop by, try out our evaluation tool and send some feedback to entrepreneurs. Or better yet, stop by and evaluate GrowVC

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Tags: entrepreneurs, startups

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 16th, 2012 at 5:54 pm and is filed under Entrepreneur Inspiration. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.