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
\n
Make you aware of our two newest technologies\n
Make you aware of our two newest technologies\n
\n
Come from a land down under\nCame to the us for funding\n
Make you aware of our two newest technologies\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
This is basically free consulting\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
• You need an American SSN or EIN.\n• What is an EIN? \n• An American Bank Account. \n\n