5 things a business needs:Sound Business StrategyProper FundingEffective MarketingReliable SuppliersFull Team of Competent People.If you have all 5 in place it's REALLY hard to fail. Most firms have 1 or 2 of these nailed, are working on a 3rd & have given up on the rest. When they can't ignore the missing bits any longer they hire consultants to sort out the mess. Investment readiness is a 3-year process. Once in a while I come across a venture that's only a month away. Formed by people who know what they're doing, in an industry where they're known, they get something right early on or fill the right hole in the right market. Such people have no trouble raising money. For the rest of us, it's hard work.At the top of the BizDev food chain, funders tend to concentrate all their efforts on these ventures & reject the rest. They have to. They'd starve if they had to put 3 years work into each deal.One tier down, they're still competent developers & fundraisers, but tend to be