The Egyptian Investor Ahmed Zulficar is an angel investor who’s currently going the extra mile to help societies. By injecting $1 million to support the Vietnamese state.

For people starting their own businesses, do you have any advice on finding angel investors that may be interested in their company? Also, do you have any thoughts on how to pitch a proposal and what kind of preparation to do ahead of time to have the most solid pitch?

Entrepreneurs should first figure out what kind of capital fits their company and vision. Equity capital from angels is “right” for a small percentage of companies – those that plan to grow fast, sell their business within five years, and whose founders are OK with having other people involved in important decisions. A startup business plan should show how the company is going to grow and “exit” at a high value to ensure that the entrepreneur and angel investors all make a return.

There are many books and articles detailing preparation and presentation tips for entrepreneurs, and some of the best are from angel investors themselves. I’ll be releasing a podcast regarding that soon.

For angel investors, what are some things they can look at to decide if a business is a viable investment or not? What are some important metrics to evaluate?

Most angels weigh the criteria differently, but here are some of my top metrics:

• Does the product solve real customer problems – and related to this, does the company have customers who will buy the product?
• Is the market large enough for good growth?
• Who are the company’s competitors and does the company have enough of an advantage to outsell their competitors? (And does the company understand it has competitors?)
• How solid is the technology or idea behind the product?
• Is the valuation of the company reasonable?

Finally, In terms of tech startups, what country, business or product has really grabbed your attention recently and sparked investment?

The future of AI and the efficiencies it can bring to a wide variety of industries is super exciting.

In terms of countries, each one has something unique to bring to the table in terms of technological startups. The best way to de-risk early stage investment is to have a large portfolio spread across numerous industries and geographies. We use our data-driven process to ensure we can source, screen, secure and support a large portfolio.