Gust Launches Investment Feedback Engine to Tell Startups Their Funding Potential


Gust Startup Funding Evaluation Engine Tells Founders Their Funding Potential

A new evaluation engine by Gust analyzes key startup metrics so entrepreneurs can get feedback from potential investments and tools for improving the business’ to appeal to investors.

Gust Startup Funding Evaluation Engine

In providing this new feature, Gust says founders will have the necessary tools for improving their pitching ability while at the same time setting realistic expectations about their startup. The goal is to make entrepreneurs more informed and get the attention of investors.

For many entrepreneurs with startups, the focus of their effort is mostly placed on the product or service they are creating. This leaves a critical component of the process, funding and pitching, without the necessary attention it deserves until much later. With 90 percent of all startups doomed to fail, getting everything right is a must.

The CEO of Gust, David S. Ross, explained in the press release (emailed release), his company provides early startups with, “… Context, expertise, and useful tools to grow and seek investment.”  He said, with the new feedback and evaluation tool, “We can now help founders better prepare for investment conversations by providing the feedback needed to put their best foot forward when it counts.”

How Does it Work?

The Gust engine analyzes self-reported information about a startup, including its business model, fundraising history, team composition, revenue, personal investment, traction and other data using a unique algorithm. It then gives the founders of the startups detailed feedback using historical metrics collected from past investments, 409a valuations, and accelerator acceptance rates.

It also analyzes the strength of the team and their achievement to produce a confidence band for the probability of the different levels of investors that may be interested, along with how much they can expect to raise.

The feedback it provides is company specific, which includes how founding teams can improve the probability of raising more capital through the assessment of the venture’s strengths and weaknesses.

When the analysis is complete, it will give you feedback on your team’s strengths and weaknesses; fundraising benchmarks for your startup; insights into how investors would view your business model and progress to date; and a fundraising estimate and suggestions on where to look for capital.

Gust points out the startup evaluation and feedback engine is an educational tool. It is based on the company’s extensive experience, which includes bringing together more than 500,000 startups with over 70,000 investment professionals. The historical data of these ventures and best practices are used to make the most informed suggestions.

If you want to evaluate your venture with the Gust startup and evaluation feedback engine, you can go here.

Image: Gust



Michael Guta Michael Guta is the Assistant Editor at Small Business Trends and has been with the team for 9 years. He currently manages its East African editorial team. Michael brings with him many years of content experience in the digital ecosystem covering a wide range of industries. He holds a B.S. in Information Communication Technology, with an emphasis in Technology Management.