33. Top VC Questions
• Who is your real customer? [“Who Cares?”]
• Why can’t they live without it?
• How will the venture reach all the identified customer segments?
• How will the much does it cost (in time and resources) to acquire a customer?
• How long before the customer sends the business a check?
• How many Widgets do you need to sell to break even?
• What are the key customer tangible and intangible factors that anyone has to provide in order to succeed? [What is the “whole product”?] What are your customer’s values?
• How are pricing decisions made?
• What are your unfair or sustainable competitive advantages? What are the barriers to entry?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors?
• What else do you have besides technology? What do you better than any other company? Is this a product or a business?
• What do you consider to be your Company’s greatest weakness? What has the key management team accomplished in the past? Who else needs to be on the team?
Company:
• What do you better than any other company?
• What else do you have besides technology?
• Is this a product or a business?
• What are your unfair advantages?
• What is your organization’s uniqueness?
• What do you consider to be your greatest weakness?
• What do you have that will enable you to shift gears if the market is a lot different than you plan on?
Customers:
• Who is your real customer? Network Manager or Application Manager? What industry groups are they drawn from and what are the overall trends? How are they doing it today?
• Why/how will they use your product?
• Why can’t they live without it?
• What does the market want?
• What pain is so high that they are willing to come to you? How intense is the pain?
• What motivates your customer to buy?
• What are your customer’s values?
• Who are your early adopters and why?
• Who is your mainstream market?
Sales & Channels:
• How will customers buy your product?
• How will customers become aware of your product?
• Who will they call for technical support?
• How long does the purchase decision process take?
• What are the key variables in the buying decision? (price, service, features, reputation,
• credit terms, delivery speed, or relationship with Salesman)?
• Are buying decisions affected by advertising or sales promotion?
• What is the degree of brand loyalty among customers? How is it measured or determined? What methods are used to lock customers in?
• What would be required to persuade the user of a competitive product to switch and how
• much would this cost?
• How important is personal selling to this customer? How good does the salesperson have to be?
• * How many Widgets do you need to sell to break even?
The Whole Product:
• What other products/accessories will customers buy to completely fulfill their needs? What are your customer’s intangible needs?
• What is the “whole product”?
• How is the product priced?
• What are the expected future price trends? How are pricing decisions made?
• Is quality the key to the sale of the product?
34. Top VC Questions
• Who is your real customer? [“Who Cares?”]
• Why can’t they live without it?
• How will the venture reach all the identified customer segments?
• How will the much does it cost (in time and resources) to acquire a customer?
• How long before the customer sends the business a check?
• How many Widgets do you need to sell to break even?
• What are the key customer tangible and intangible factors that anyone has to provide in order to succeed? [What is the “whole product”?] What are your customer’s values?
• How are pricing decisions made?
• What are your unfair or sustainable competitive advantages? What are the barriers to entry?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors?
• What else do you have besides technology? What do you better than any other company? Is this a product or a business?
• What do you consider to be your Company’s greatest weakness? What has the key management team accomplished in the past? Who else needs to be on the team?
Company:
• What do you better than any other company?
• What else do you have besides technology?
• Is this a product or a business?
• What are your unfair advantages?
• What is your organization’s uniqueness?
• What do you consider to be your greatest weakness?
• What do you have that will enable you to shift gears if the market is a lot different than you plan on?
bit.ly/vcquestions
Customers:
• Who is your real customer? Network Manager or Application Manager? What industry groups are they drawn from and what are the overall trends? How are they doing it today?
• Why/how will they use your product?
• Why can’t they live without it?
• What does the market want?
• What pain is so high that they are willing to come to you? How intense is the pain?
• What motivates your customer to buy?
• What are your customer’s values?
• Who are your early adopters and why?
• Who is your mainstream market?
Sales & Channels:
• How will customers buy your product?
• How will customers become aware of your product?
• Who will they call for technical support?
• How long does the purchase decision process take?
• What are the key variables in the buying decision? (price, service, features, reputation,
• credit terms, delivery speed, or relationship with Salesman)?
• Are buying decisions affected by advertising or sales promotion?
• What is the degree of brand loyalty among customers? How is it measured or determined? What methods are used to lock customers in?
• What would be required to persuade the user of a competitive product to switch and how
• much would this cost?
• How important is personal selling to this customer? How good does the salesperson have to be?
• * How many Widgets do you need to sell to break even?
The Whole Product:
• What other products/accessories will customers buy to completely fulfill their needs? What are your customer’s intangible needs?
• What is the “whole product”?
• How is the product priced?
• What are the expected future price trends? How are pricing decisions made?
• Is quality the key to the sale of the product?
65. Be prepared
• Copy of your Pitch on your Phone/Tabet/Computer/Web
• Have an annotated version of your pitch deck
66. Be prepared
• Copy of your Pitch on your Phone/Tabet/Computer/Web
• Have an annotated version of your pitch deck
• Have an executive summary ready
67. Be prepared
• Copy of your Pitch on your Phone/Tabet/Computer/Web
• Have an annotated version of your pitch deck
• Have an executive summary ready
• Have your own term sheet
68. Be prepared
• Copy of your Pitch on your Phone/Tabet/Computer/Web
• Have an annotated version of your pitch deck
• Have an executive summary ready
• Have your own term sheet
• Have these ready to go on Dropbox
69. Be prepared
• Copy of your Pitch on your Phone/Tabet/Computer/Web
• Have an annotated version of your pitch deck
• Have an executive summary ready
• Have your own term sheet
• Have these ready to go on Dropbox
• Automate / Hack this process
70. Be prepared
• Copy of your Pitch on your Phone/Tabet/Computer/Web
• Have an annotated version of your pitch deck
• Have an executive summary ready
• Have your own term sheet
• Have these ready to go on Dropbox
• Automate / Hack this process
• Use Bit.ly to see if they’ve actually looked at your links
71. Be prepared
• Copy of your Pitch on your Phone/Tabet/Computer/Web
• Have an annotated version of your pitch deck
• Have an executive summary ready
• Have your own term sheet
• Have these ready to go on Dropbox
• Automate / Hack this process
• Use Bit.ly to see if they’ve actually looked at your links
• Get back to people quickly (it shouldn’t take more than a
minute)
79. More Tips
• Listen to This Week in Startups, This Week in Venture Capital
80. More Tips
• Listen to This Week in Startups, This Week in Venture Capital
• Sign up to the twistlist.co (lots of lurking Angels)
81. More Tips
• Listen to This Week in Startups, This Week in Venture Capital
• Sign up to the twistlist.co (lots of lurking Angels)
• Read Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com)
82. More Tips
• Listen to This Week in Startups, This Week in Venture Capital
• Sign up to the twistlist.co (lots of lurking Angels)
• Read Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com)
• Search Quora for VC / Angel Q&As
83. More Tips
• Listen to This Week in Startups, This Week in Venture Capital
• Sign up to the twistlist.co (lots of lurking Angels)
• Read Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com)
• Search Quora for VC / Angel Q&As
• Apply for YCombinator / Techstars
84. More Tips
• Listen to This Week in Startups, This Week in Venture Capital
• Sign up to the twistlist.co (lots of lurking Angels)
• Read Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com)
• Search Quora for VC / Angel Q&As
• Apply for YCombinator / Techstars
• Stay friends with the VCs / Angels who say ‘no’
85. More Tips
• Listen to This Week in Startups, This Week in Venture Capital
• Sign up to the twistlist.co (lots of lurking Angels)
• Read Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com)
• Search Quora for VC / Angel Q&As
• Apply for YCombinator / Techstars
• Stay friends with the VCs / Angels who say ‘no’
• Open Source what you can
Are you getting this?\n\n\n---\nPresident\nNinja Blocks Inc | The Internet of Things for the rest of us.\n\n185 Clara Street, Suite 100\nSan Francisco CA 94107\n\n+1 (415) 671-6114\nmarcus@ninjablocks.com\n
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Make you aware of our two newest technologies\n
Make you aware of our two newest technologies\n
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Come from a land down under\nCame to the us for funding\n
Make you aware of our two newest technologies\n
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This is basically free consulting\n
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• You need an American SSN or EIN.\n• What is an EIN? \n• An American Bank Account. \n\n
