Questions to help you become investor ready

I’m a strong proponent of the Socratic method and as such I’m always on the lookout for good questions to ask, especially for the founders I mentor. The Forbes article 15 Key Questions Venture Capitalists Will Ask Before Investing In Your Startup by Richard Harroch is a great tool to determine if your venture is investor-ready or not.

I’m going to simply refer you to that article along with a couple of posts of mine. If you can successfully run the gauntlet of all these questions you’ll be ready to sit down with an investor, with confidence!

Here’s another set of questions, Investors questions to address and the post Are you investor ready?

But rather than simply view answering these questions as a one-time exercise I recommend you convert them into a to do list, as it will be highly unusual for a zero-stage founder to have good answers for every question. For example, if you haven’t launched your product you should make sure to arrange for customer testimonials and if you haven’t built a set of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) there’s a major milestone for your venture. For that one I’ll refer you to my post 12 KPIs you must know before pitching your startup.

Author: Mentorphile

Mentor, coach, and advisor to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and non-profit organizations. General manager with significant experience in both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Focus on media and information. On founding team of four venture-backed companies. Currently Chairman of Popsleuth, Inc., maker of the Endorfyn app for keeping fans updated on new stuff from their favorite artists. View all posts by Mentorphile