These principles may seem very obvious, but it is surprising how easy it is to over look them while in the heat of development, team building and capital raising. Heeding this advice could save you from instant failure, or even worse operational mud, which will lead to a slow demise.

1. Try not to use investment money too early in the development. I know, this sounds strange. But first of all, if you cannot produce your product with your own two hands or with a talented rockstar team then you probably shouldn't be producing your product. I say 'probably' since there are a few that succeed at combining the right team and the right product idea to survive development and launch.

2.Be patient, watch your consumption. If your product requires a team, substantial research and preliminary prototyping, then hold investor capital in escrow until you are fully ready to pull the trigger. Do not consume the majority of your financial capital in the research or prototype stage, and be careful of the "rush-to-market" attitudes. The market will always be there, and it still takes some time for competitors to become entrenched, unless they become an overnight sensation or if they have preliminary distribution channels they can maximize.

3. Assume something will crash. Whether it be external forces or internal dynamics I guarantee that something will crash - either human, physical or financial capital. These crashes can have devastating effects on your time-line and will. You can't foresee most crashe,s but you can sure expect they are going to come some day. Therefore you need insurance, which includes - low burn rate, talent diversity and backups!

4. Don't play with your own money. Be careful with spending your own hard earned cash. Not to say that others should only bear the burden of capital investment. You should invest enough to 'have skin in the game' but not so much that it burdens your way of life.

5. Equity for In-kind services. The difference between equity for cash or in-kind services is not much - both situations require individuals that believe in the mission and the team or individual executing the mission - but of course equity for in-kind services require that the service investor provide a skill-set to add value to the company (ergo their own investment) over a longer term, whereas the cash investors value is solely what can be done with the cash and is usable over a shorter term (not to say that the cash investor cannot provide other key value such as - a rolodex, title weight, experience and insight. It is healthy to have a combination of cash and in-kind investors.