re: Seed rounds/family and friends rounds

If Tesla is actually a paying customer generating revenue for the business, than that checks box #1. Which leads to the second box, founders. Obviously someone in the startup had the chops to go sell the Tesla account. That would intrigue a lot of people. There’s certainly more to it, but I would think a founder who could sell to Tesla could sell to others as well.

If they really know their stuff, they will be able to explain exactly why they are raising to you. It’s pretty easy to weed out who’s actually doing something and who’s just talking/hoping for it when you peel the onion. Make sure they know their #s in and out.