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"Joe Chernov is the VP of marketing for Kinvey, a mobile back-end as a service startup in Cambridge, Mass. Joe joined Kinvey from Eloqua, where he served as VP of content marketing. The Content Marketing Institute named him \"Content Marketer of the Year\" in 2012.\nTech startups are alluring. They provide a sense of belonging for doers that want to leave their mark on the world, a \"lottery ticket\" for good-life dreamers and a front-row ticket to the theater of innovation for thrill seekers.\nBut startups are also freighted with risk. Because 90% of startups fail (and of those who \"succeed,\" few do so on the level of a Facebook or even Crashlytics), joining an early stage company is like placing a bet \u2014 your time (lots of it) versus the threats (lots of them) a young business faces. \nIs there any way to improve your odds? \nDavid Aronoff, a general partner with Flybridge Capital, once told me, \"When you join a startup, you are making an investment. You are investing your time. Do your due diligence the way a VC would.\" What exactly constitutes due diligence? While the process varies among firms, there are some common factors investors consider before placing million-dollar bets. VCs vet the founder, the management team, the opportunity and the economics before presenting a term sheet. The same \"bizarre mating ritual,\" as Aronoff calls it, in which you simultaneously sell and evaluate, applies equally well to job candidates. \nThe Founder \nVCs are in the people business. They bet on founders as much as business plans. Atlas Venture partner Fred Destin suggests asking open-ended questions to uncover if the founder was able to \"attract awesome talent without spending actual money.\" Destin also routinely inquires about how many of the founder's previous colleagues have joined the new venture. Similarly, candidates should also follow the VC model of exploring whether the founder was able to retain the early talent.\nApplicants with extensive LinkedIn networks have an advantage. After all, the more connections one has, the more opportunities exist for discreet \u2014 or \"backchannel\" \u2014 references. VCs vet entrepreneurs through their own social connections, not those supplied by the entrepreneur. Destin maintains that most venture capitalists insist on a whopping eight references. \"You only have one life and it's not a dress rehearsal, so don't work with dunces,\" he says.\nThe Management Team \nA strong management team and promising startup go hand-in-hand. That\u2019s why VCs spend time digging into the culture of potential portfolio companies. Aronoff asks for specific examples of team collaboration. Destin, however, dwells on the importance of decisiveness. He urges interviewees to probe for situations in which leadership quickly made difficult decisions. Examples include hiring \u2013 or firing \u2013 decisions and real-time strategy adjustments. Of course, job seekers shouldn't expect all of this information to be supplied during the interview process. VCs will mine their social networks for connections to past employees and probe why they left the company. Candidates should do the same. In fact, Aronoff suggests they go a step further and contact the investors with critical questions about the company's leadership. \nThe Opportunity Does the company offer a salable product or service? Rob Go, a partner with NextView Ventures calls at least three customers or prospects to see what they think of the product. Job candidates too should ask for customer references. Is the product as mature as it's been characterized throughout the recruitment? Do users perceive the same value as the sales team does? Secondary research \u2013- reading articles, blog posts and analyst reports \u2013- are also standard operating procedures for VCs.\nThe Economics  \nEvery investor knows there are two sides of deal economics: the downside and the upside. There\u2019s simple, back-of-the-envelope formula for calculating the downside \u2013- that is, when the company will run out of money. \"Assume that a company raises money for 12 to 24 months of operation,\" says Go. \"See the last fundraise date, then subtract from 18 months.\" It\u2019s also relatively easy to get a basic understanding of what you stand to gain if the company succeeds. Destin says. \"The value you stand to make is equal to the price at exit, minus your strike price, multiplied by the number of shares you have.\" Candidates should feel empowered to ask direct questions about their equity packages, including what percent of the company the grant represents. In fact, when a job candidate asked on Quora if he should join a startup that refuse to disclose the percentage of equity ownership he was offered, John Lilly, a partner at Greylock Partners, responded succinctly: \"Not a chance.\"\nNo amount of research can guarantee success, but at the very least, asking these questions will demonstrate to the hiring managers that you are taking the process as seriously as they are, and that alone may just be the difference between receiving an offer or not.\nMashable composite. Images via iStockphoto, JamesGdesign and coolgraphic"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/03/18/be-your-own-vc-how-to-vet-a-startup-before-you-join/>