Naval Ravikant’s Things to Look For in a Startup

Startup2Startup hosted a talk by Naval Ravikant, one of the guys behind Venture Hacks and the original founder of Epinions, a precursor to the PowerReviews idea. Here’s a link to the video, filled with two minutes of great insight on what a startup needs.

Things to look for in a startup:

1. the team – some of the best in the field
2. the market – must be huge because the first idea rarely works and you need room to maneuver
3. proprietary / difficult technology – something that compounds over time into a distinct competitive advantage
4. proprietary distribution channel – some sort of viral marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), or partnerships
5. direct monetization model – not just joining an ad network

The technology description is important – most ideas I hear (and come up with) are pretty straight-forward. Anyone who knows Python or Ruby on Rails can come up with a basic database-backed site. Is there any real complexity to what you’re trying to do that two folks in an apartment can’t copy in three months?