Investor’s typical Questions?

Q1. What is your Burn Rate & Run-way? How fast are you spending money? How long will it last, till it runs out? Are you looking for more money?

Q2. How much “Skin” do you have in the game? How much time, “sweat equity” & more importantly; How much of your own $$ did you put in? This shows your level of commitment; your passion for your business.

Q3. What is the History of your Company? or past Companies? Have you successfully launched and grown 1 or more Startups? When you do a Timeline of this business, is there gaps where nothing was happening? You weren’t making any progress? You need to have an explanation ready for that.

Q4. Do you have a good Team? Is the Team united on the Mission & Vision of the company? Do they have enthusiasm/ passion for this business? Is there excessive conflict, lack of communication or respect? These are indicators of eventual failure.

Q5. What’s in it for me? [WIFM] Investing in or joining a Startup is a risk. What are the Rewards if it succeeds? Investor will look for ROI that is 10x their Investment. Employees will look at sufficient Stock Options.

Q6. How deep is your Board? Investors will prefer experienced Entrepreneurs with extensive knowledge & lots of connections in your area.

Q7. Can I talk to a Customer? Free Trials, & Beta Customers don’t count. An Investor will want to talk to a paid Customer, who has your product, and it’s in full use. Are they “excited” about your product or service? Would they recommend you to?

Q8. Have you protected your Intellectual Property? Do you have Patents? Is it comprehensive enough to not make it easy to steal?

Q9. What’s your Exit Strategy? What is your Goal? Merger or Buy-out? IPO?

Q10. What are your Sales Channels? How are you going to get your product to Market?

Q11. Relationships? Have you built good Relationships with your Customers, Team, Suppliers?

Q12. Are you Pre-Scaling Balanced? Are you preparing to be balanced/ synchronized between your cash flow and your delivery schedule? Is it realistic? Is your design ready? Is your operations set up & smoothed out? Can Sales & Marketing handle the surge? Does Marketing have a Campaign planned? Great. Let it go. Open the Floodgates !!!

For more advice contact the Meetup Speaker, Woody Smith at Vukan@AOL.com or Peter/Organizer Entrepreneur Meetups, CXO of Wiz4biz & 5 Star Startup Services

Comments: Is there any questions you would add?