I thought it might be helpful to create a live running Google Doc of all the major questions that a VC might ask you.
Go to -> Questions that a VC might ask you.
If there are more questions you think I should add to this list, please comment in the Google Doc, and I’ll add additional ones that get multiple votes.
I’ve highlighted in blue the questions that I care the most about. I’ll certainly ask questions about traction just to get an understanding of what has been done in the company, but as a pre-seed investor, we do most of our investments pre-traction. This will, of course, be different for a seed or mango-seed investor.
What is most interesting to me in looking at all the questions I’ve highlighted in blue is that you can see I very much gravitate towards customer acquisition questions. It isn’t so much that I care about what your LTV and CAC are today. In fact, in most cases, your CAC will only go up (significantly) and your LTV will hopefully be worth more in the future, so it doesn’t mean anything to me! But I want to understand how you think about getting customers.
Credit: Giphy
Most entrepreneurs at the pre-seed stage haven’t thought much about customer acquisition. In my view, this is what separates savvy or experienced entrepreneurs from everyone else.
The savviest or most experienced entrepreneurs will often think through the customer acquisition first before even thinking about the product.
At this stage, no one will have all the answers, but a great entrepreneur will think through things like “is this problem important enough that customers will part with their money for this?” and “what is my wedge into this market to beat out alternatives / competitors?” The savviest or most experienced entrepreneurs will start pre-selling ahead of having a product and know that these results are more telling than surveys. These are the kinds of things that I want to understand at the pre-seed stage.
What questions do you think should be added to this list?