Questions from a venture capital firm...

I was recently emailed by an investment company who wanted to know more about my product. At this stage I'm validating the idea and have very few paying customers and so investment wouldn't be a sensible option. But I filled in their questionnaire out of interest to see if they could help in other ways.

The act of filling out their questionnaire turned out to be a great exercise in trying to succinctly explain the why's of the product and the problems it aims to solve. It was a good process for reaffirming why I was building what I was building. These are of course all things to know and have planned before opening Sketch or touching a code base, but when was the last time you checked in with them?

For me, I realised I'd neglected some parts of the mission and focussed more on features than user onboarding and site content (the product aims to offer guidance using science content) - something I now aim to correct to steer me back on course.

Here are some of the questions that I found most useful from the questionnaire:

1. Company Description (as short and clear as you can)
2. What inspired you to start the company
3. What is the exact problem you're solving
4. How are you solving this problem?
5. Who are you building the product for?
6. What are the key priorities for the next six months?
7. What is the sales model?
8. What is the marketing approach?
9. What is the exact target segment of your product?
10. What is the total addressable market?
11. Who are your key competitors and how large are they?
12. How does the company position itself in relation to its competitors?

I found this a useful exercise, as they are of course questions you ought to have answers to - for me, I have no detailed sales plan.

Reply with your answers for your project to see how much you're in line with your original business plan and brand values...