What Investors Look For When Evaluating Your Pitch: Fadi Ghandour Founder and Vice Chairman of Aramex Fadi Ghandour gives tips on what investors look for when evaluating a pitch.

By Fadi Ghandour

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When evaluating a pitch, here is what Fadi Ghandour looks for in your business model. Some of the investors we featured look at early-stage and even ideation, others only consider large-scale models. At the core of the matter is that a pitch is a pitch, and you'll notice that these investors all mention a few essential points... like how much drive and motivation you and your co-founders have to make your business work. Does your enterprise have what (and who) it takes to secure funds?

"1. THE ENTREPRENEUR AND HIS TEAM. Team with a capital T; passion, character, knowledge.

2. THE MARKET that is being addressed, and who is the client? How do you intend to get traction?

3. WHY you?

4. WHAT do they want from me other than money?

5. HOW are they going to scale the business outside their comfort zone market?"

Fadi Ghandour is the Founder and Vice Chairman of Aramex. He is currently Executive Chairman of Wamda Ventures, a new Venture Capital fund focusing on technology investments in the Arab World, and Managing Partner of MENA Venture Investments. He is Member of the Board of Abraaj Capital, Member of the Board of Endeavor Global, Member of the Advisory Council of the MIT Media Lab and Member of the Board of Trustees at the American University of Beirut (AUB). He is also Founding Investor in Maktoob.com sold to yahoo in 2009. Ghandour is the Founder and Chairman of Ruwwad for Development, and Chairman of Ruwwad Micro-Venture Fund, an equity-based fund providing seed capital and support for microbusinesses and micro- entrepreneurs.

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