I have often complained that it is often weeks, months, and in one case, years of working with a startup before I learn the most important things about them, or rather the things that would be most important to investors.
I recently listened to a practice pitch and told the founder that in real life, I would probably have wished them well and left without asking a single question because that was nothing interesting that they said about their company.
Over the course of 10 minutes, we found eight separate unrelated things that each would have been sufficient to win a second meeting.
This pushed me past my inertia, and I have put together a list of questions to elicit and start conversations about hidden gems. Each of these is from a real situation.
We have made it into a form that will create a set of notes to help you discuss these with your advisors and help make sure that they aren’t overlooked or forgotten when it comes time to talk to investors.
If you’ve seen other hidden gems, please ….. so we can include them in the next version of the questionnaire.
