The Personal Investment Test
Are You Someone Worth Investing In?
When I led a sales and marketing team selling software to investors (venture capitalists, corporate ventures, and other institutional investors) I had to re-learn something critical: the best salespeople don’t just pitch their product, they understand the process their buyer lives and breathes. For me, learning the investment process opened my eyes in a meaningful way.
For investors, that process has three big stages:
Sourcing (finding deals that meet the thesis of the investment fund, e.g. consumer packaged goods companies)
Diligence (deciding if the deal is good enough to bet on, e.g. whether the product, market, founding team, and bigger vision create a path to a large enough exit; in multiple scenarios, the company would need to meet exit criteria that make it viable as an investment target)
Deal Terms (the value of the asset, the % of ownership, terms around dilution and liquidity in follow-on funding rounds, exit scenarios, and whether or not the investor receives a board seat as part of the investment)
If a deal clears all three? A investor might write the check.
Recently, I heard Lori Harder, the incredible founder behind Gloci (the skin routine you can drink, and a company I also happen to be an investor in), frame fundraising in a way that hit me hard. She asked: “Before you think about fundraising for your business, think about fundraising for yourself. Are YOU the type of person you’d invest in?”
So let’s flip the script: What if we all put ourselves through that investor lens? Would you pass the Personal Investment Test?
Maybe you’re reading this as someone who never aspires to start a business or raise capital, that’s okay. I’d argue that whatever your ambition is — meeting a romantic partner, getting the next promotion, making new friends — if it has to do with other people, you’re entering into an investment process whether you realize it or not. Swap “investor” for any of the above and see how the following framework applies…
Sourcing: Am I Visible Enough?
Investors can’t invest in deals they never see. Same goes for us: romantic partners can’t meet someone they don’t know exists, bosses can’t promote someone they don’t realize is moving the needle, and new friends won’t pull you out of silent obscurity and invite you to hang out.
Here’s a few questions to ask yourself to see if you pass the sourcing test:
Am I putting myself in the rooms, feeds, and conversations where I want to be noticed?
Could the right people “source” me — or am I hiding in plain sight?
For me: One of my big dreams is publishing a cookbook that blends recipes with life advice. If I score myself here? Brutal honesty: 0/10. I’ve got fewer than 2,500 Instagram followers and a smaller email list. A cookbook author typically needs >100k followers and tens of thousands of subscribers to even get looked at for a publishing deal. Compound this with the fact that I’m not posting consistently enough to build that visibility, and we have our answer: I’m not sourceable… yet.
Diligence: Would I Pass With Flying Colors?
Investors run diligence to see if the fundamentals for a business check out. For us, the fundamentals look like habits, focus, and execution. Investors also want opportunities that can return their fund many times over. For us, that might be more about whether our goals are meaningful enough to justify the grind and keep us going day in and day out, even when the results aren’t there yet.
Here’s a few questions to ask yourself to see if you pass the diligence test:
If an “investor” shadowed me for a day, would they see me working on things that move the needle?
Do my daily habits prove I can deliver on the promises I make to myself and others?
Does the dream I’m chasing matter enough to me to keep me motivated over the long haul, even if the results I want aren’t anywhere close?
For me: It’s currently 6am, my family is asleep, and I’m writing this article. I’ve published one Recipe for Success + one food recipe every week for two years. That’s at least an inkling of proof I can generate the raw ingredients of a cook book that includes food recipes + recipes for life without anyone holding me accountable. But with marketing as a side thought (see above, Sourcing), I’d give myself a 5/10. Solid fundamentals, strong habits, but honestly… half-baked commitment.
On top of that, it’s a little tough to pin down exact numbers, but estimates suggest ~20 million cookbooks are sold annually in the U.S., with personal development books landing somewhere between 10–20 million units, both genres growing. Bestsellers in both categories generally sell at least 10k units in their first year, with many surpassing 50k or even 100k+.
It makes me ask the question, could a hybrid cookbook + life-advice book pull from both markets and solve a unique problem for ambitious women (like recent grads who want recipes for both life and dinner)? Maybe. But here I need more diligence here… I need to ask my ideal audience directly, and get a better idea of whether this project matters enough to myself (I think so) and others (I don’t know yet) to keep spending time on it. So for now, let’s say my score is 5/10.
Deal Terms: Are My Boundaries and Value Clear?
Even if a company is both sourceable and passes diligence, the deal can still fall apart if the two parties can’t agree to terms. The same is true for us. It’s not just about being visible and capable, it’s about making sure others understand your value, where you’re headed and the conditions under which both parties will thrive if they choose to team up.
Here’s a few questions to ask yourself to see if you pass the deal terms test:
Do I clearly communicate what I bring to the table?
Do I set boundaries that protect my time, energy, and long-term goals?
What am I looking for in a partner and what would I be willing to offer in exchange?
For me: In my cookbook dream, “deal terms” would look like negotiating a publishing contract that respects my voice, gives me creative control, and ensures the work is marketed well. For the publisher, it’s probably going to be about what I bring to the table: my audience size, engagement, and the uniqueness of the product I’m bringing to market. If I let poor terms dictate the process, the deal fails before it starts; the same is true on their end. So how do I score here? Honestly, incomplete. I don’t yet know what I don’t know, and starting with the end in mind, making sure the deal works for all parties, would be the best place to begin.
An Inconvenient Truth and An Important Takeaway
You, like me, are ambitious. You’ve got goals. And in order to achieve those goals, you are going to need people in your corner: investors, partners, friends, bosses, betting on YOU. If you went through this exercise, like me, and gave yourself a 5/30 (calculation = sum of your score from each section: 0 + 5 + 0 / total cumulative score possible: 30), then the inconvenient truth is this: you’ve got a long way to go. But fortunately there’s a more powerful takeaway: You know the road in front of you now, and probably with a dose of reality you needed to kick your a** into high gear, if that’s what was meant for you.
So ask yourself… For these people that I want in my corner betting on me:
Would I show up on their radar?
Would I pass the diligence sniff test?
What terms would I look for in a partner, and what would I have to be willing to bring to the table in return?
Get clear on your answers, and get to work on elevating your score in each of the different areas needed to help you realize your big dreams.
Recipe for Success: Becoming Someone Worth Investing In
Ingredients: visibility (show up where your people are), create habits that prove your ROI, chase big opportunities aka dreams that are worth the grind.
How To: Mix visibility and diligence daily until consistent. Season with bold goals that stretch you. Taste-test weekly: would you invest in yourself today?
Results: A life that passes the Personal Investment Test — not just on paper, but in practice. One that attracts the right people, the right opportunities, and the right kind of investment.
