Early investors are, at a fundamental level, making a bet on two things. The first is your vision of the future. The second is your ability to make that future come to life.

Inspiring confidence around that second dimension is not just about demonstrating all the success you’ve had, but about being sophisticated in your identification of weaknesses and savvy in your strategy for remedying them.

Too many early entrepreneurs try to sweep their biggest challenges under the rug, for fear of losing investor interest. The best recognize that it is their ability to overcome those challenges that makes them so appealing to investors in the first place.