Startup evaluation

Having worked in an entrepreneurial environment in the past, and wanting to return to the innovative, creative, and fast-paced high-tech startup world, I have been giving some thoughts to how to evaluate opportunities that will present themselves in this space.  This thought came about from talking to colleagues who have worked at or are currently involved in new ventures and the wisdom gleamed both from my as well as their experience.  There is a lot of new venture activity in the analytical BI and CRM space where I am positioned, especially with SaaS analytics companies and new DWA vendors.  

The issue is not in finding companies, but more so in picking a winner...  In my venture evaluation, these are the criteria that I believe would be the most valuable (feel free to debate):

1. Venture funding partners... Who in the venture capital market has bought into their business plan and are supporting them with capital and leadership?  What are the reputation of these firms and the companies that they fund?

2. Leadership team... What is the experience and reputation of the executives and founders of the company?  Have they succeeded before (like Brett Hurt of Bazaarvoice who founded CoreMetrics)?  What is their experience in the space (such as Foster Henshaw of Dataupia, who founded Netezza which is now public, profitable, and has revenues of over $150M/year)?  What type of people are they to work for?  What type of corporate cultures do they incubate?  

3. The technology... Is the technology differentiated in a real and relevant way?  Is the value proposition compelling?  

4. Customers (tie with technology)... Who from a customer standpoint has bought into the venture's value proposition and put "skin in the game" to invest in it for themselves?  What has their success been with the technology?  

Obviously, all of these are relevant and important.  In addition, the order of consideration does depend on the amount of risk you want to take... for example, customers may be #1 if you're more risk averse... and leadership team before venture capital if you're more of a risk taker.  I have seen some interesting ventures in the market (a couple I listed above) and it'll be exciting to see what their future may be...