You MUST have...  a large and growing market that is accessible to a start-up; a stellar and committed management team either in place or on the way; a product or service that your customers really, really want; a business model that scales well when growing.

It is GOOD if you...  have a world-class lead customer; have strong IPR/Patents that protect your uniqueness; deploy funding intelligently and efficiently; don’t go head to head with Microsoft, Cisco, etc.