What secures a “yes” from an angel investor?

At the latest Basel Area Business & Innovation Co-Founder Matchmaking Event in April 2026, angel investor Nicolas Lehmann gave the founders in attendance a direct answer to a question many early-stage teams ask too late: what actually makes an angel investor say yes?

His answer was clear. At the earliest stages, investors look hard at the founding team.

The product matters. The market matters. The numbers matter. But before a startup has years of traction, repeatable revenue and predictable growth, the team is often the strongest signal an investor has. “Team is the number one factor when I go in,” Lehmann explained.

That does not mean a good team can compensate for a weak business case. It means that in the early phases, investors are backing the people who will be best placed to update the business case when reality changes. And reality always changes.

Lehmann shared the example of a startup he invested in ten years ago. The company now has more than 150 employees. Most of the original founders are still involved, but almost everything else changed along the way – from the business model and offering to the website and pricing.

For him, that is the point. In an early-stage company, the team may be the most durable asset. Markets shift. Products evolve. Pricing changes. The founding team is what carries the company through those shifts.

That is why angel investors pay close attention to founder dynamics. They want to understand who is building the company, how they work under pressure, and how likely they are to keep moving when the first version of the plan breaks.

For Lehmann, investors are rarely looking for a lone wolf. They are also rarely looking for a group of people with the same background, skills and way of thinking.

A stronger team brings different capabilities into the company from the start. That can mean a mix of technical and commercial experience. It can mean different industry backgrounds, study paths, working styles and perspectives. In science and tech startups, this balance is especially important.

Purely technical teams can struggle to commercialize. Purely business-led teams may lack the depth to build a credible product or science-based solution. The best founding teams give investors confidence that the company can handle more than one type of problem.

Founders often think investors are looking mainly for confidence. Lehmann’s point was sharper: they are looking for resilience.

Building a startup is not a clean sprint. It is a long, difficult process with setbacks, pressure and repeated uncertainty. Angel investors want to see evidence that founders can stay effective when things get hard.

That evidence can come from different places. Previous entrepreneurial experience helps. So can a demanding professional career, competitive sport, serious personal projects or any track record that shows commitment under pressure.

Can the founder keep going? Can the team absorb stress without falling apart? Can they learn, adjust and still execute?

Lehmann was clear that startup building is not “an easy sprint.” Investors want to see resilience because the company will face pressure long before it becomes predictable.

Lehmann was direct about another investor preference: that there are at least two founders.

The reason is practical. Startup investing is already risky. If a solo founder leaves, the company carries a single point of failure on top of every other risk. That does not make solo founders uninvestable – Lehmann has invested in solo founders before, but in those cases the founder had already built a strong team around them.

The lesson for solo founders is clear. Do not wait until fundraising to show that the company can operate beyond you. Build the team, clarify responsibilities and demonstrate that the business has more than one person carrying its future.

A founding team can look strong on paper and still fail in practice.

Investors want to see how the team works together. Have the founders studied together, worked together or built together before? Have they already passed through early friction and reached a point where roles, norms and responsibilities are clear?

A freshly formed team can be promising. But from an investor’s perspective, it is still unproven.

Lehmann’s advice was practical: make collaboration visible. Show who owns what. Use an organization chart. Explain the decision-making logic. Be clear about current gaps and future hiring needs.

This helps internally, because it reduces confusion. It helps investors, because it shows maturity. And it helps the company grow, because the team can see which capabilities already exist and which still need to be added.

An additional useful point from Lehmann’s presentation was that founding teams can change.

This does not automatically scare investors. People leave companies. Roles evolve. Teams discover that something does not work. What matters is how founders explain the change. Investors may look at the commercial register. They may see board or management changes. They may ask what happened.

Lehmann’s advice: do not hide it. Have a clear, honest storyline ready. Explain what changed, why it changed and why the company is now stronger or more focused as a result. A team that can talk openly about difficult transitions often looks more credible than one trying to avoid the subject.

For Lehmann, execution shows up in the details. He described it through a phrase many investors instinctively understand: “How you do one thing is how you do everything.” For example, the sharpness of an email. The quality of an investor call. The level of preparation. The clarity of follow-up.

These signals matter because investors use them to infer how the team operates when they are not in the room.

Founders sometimes underestimate this. They may treat investor communication as separate from company building. Investors often see it as evidence of company building. If a founder is unclear, slow or disorganized during fundraising, an investor may wonder how the same founder handles customers, partners, employees or financial planning. Crisp execution builds trust before the term sheet.

Lehmann also stressed commitment. Founders should expect investors to ask whether they are full-time. In some cases, especially before the first investment round, a transition period may be understandable. But after funding, investors generally expect founders to be fully committed.

That is especially relevant for spin-offs, academic founders or teams where some members still hold research or corporate roles. There may be exceptions, but the team needs to show that the company has enough capacity and commitment to move fast.

The legal basics matter too. Founders should have proper work contracts in place. Investors will look at intellectual property transfer, notice periods, non-compete clauses and related employment issues. These are not administrative details. They affect risk, ownership and future investability.

One of Lehmann’s most useful pieces of advice was also one of the simplest: start early.

Angel investment is relationship driven, as investors rarely decide to invest on day one. A good relationship can develop through a conversation, a follow-up, a progress update, an introduction or a shared interest in the company’s mission.

Lehmann described his own path with Brian, the AI teaching assistant company where he is now a board member. The relationship started because he found the company interesting. Conversations followed. He invested. Later, he joined the board.

No one planned that outcome at the start. That is how angel investor relationships often work.

Nonetheless, founders should be clear about expectations. What do they want from the angel investor? Capital only? Strategic input? Customer introductions? Fundraising support? Board experience? Financial guidance?

The investor should be equally clear about what they expect in return, including communication rhythm, involvement and decision rights.

This all matters because an angel investment can create a relationship of seven years or more. Misaligned expectations can create friction long after the money is in the bank.

Good angels can bring more than capital. They may bring financial discipline, sector knowledge, customer access, board experience, fundraising support or investor introductions. Lehmann put it simply: “Angels can offer a pair of wings.”

Founders should use that support. But they should not confuse it with full-time operating capacity. An angel can open doors. They can challenge assumptions. They can help present the company well to future investors. They can support the next fundraising round through their network. However, they usually will not become part of the day-to-day team.

The founder’s job is to build the company. The angel’s job is to increase its chances of success from the outside.

For founders preparing to raise from angels, Lehmann’s advice points to a clear checklist:

• Do you have the right mix of technical, commercial and operational skills?
• Can you show resilience through past experience or current traction?
• Are roles and responsibilities clear?
• Have you worked through real collaboration, not just founder enthusiasm?
• Can you explain any team changes openly?
• Are you fully committed, or on a credible path to full-time commitment?
• Are your contracts, IP arrangements and legal basics ready?
• Do your emails, calls and follow-ups show the execution quality you want investors to believe in?

Angel investors do not expect early-stage startups to be perfect. They do expect founders to be serious. The “yes” often starts there.

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