Ideas are cheap. Everyone has them, and most have more than one. The ability to make something work is a whole different matter. As an investor, you're determi

Ideas are cheap. Everyone has them, and most have more than one. The ability to make something work is a whole different matter. As an investor, you're determining risk vs reward. How much risk is there that I'll give my money to this guy and not ever get anything back? If you have a prototype to play with, you at least know that the entrepreneur is capable of building his idea. If you have actual users using the prototype, you know the entrepreneur is capable of building something others want. And if you have any paying users, even if they aren't paying much, you you know the entrepreneur has been able to build something that people want bad enough to pay for. Each of these steps is a reduction is risk. The more risk an investor has, the less likely they are to invest. And if they DO invest, the more expensive their money is going to be. Anyone willing to invest in just an idea is going to want a lot more of your company for their investment, because they're absorbing a lot more risk than the entrepreneur.