10 Questions Investors Ask Startups
Let’s face it, your ability to raise money will make or break your new venture. You need investment to scale and you need to impress the investors sitting in front of you, with a solid pitch deck and answering the key questions you will be asked basically every time you pitch to investors.
Thanks to years and years of experience in helping startups raising funds, we put together for you the top 10 questions from investors that you should know the answer to. Here they are with some high level guidance on where to look for the answer:
1. How big can this be? (Size of the market, market opportunity)
2. How scalable is your business? (aka how it works. This usually means “what are the things which will slow scaling?” for example hiring ops staff, national laws, etc)
3. Why hasn’t someone already done this and what’s your advantage? (what makes you unique and why now it’s the right time to launch your product / service)
4. Where do you think you can take the company in 5 years beyond your initial market and product? (Here you want to talk about your roadmap, vision and value proposition)
5. What happens if Google/Amazon/<other big corporate> copies you? (know well your competitive landscape)
6. How much behavioural change is required for customers to adopt your proposition? And if a change is required, do you make it easy for them?
7. What are the key hurdles?
8. What differentiates you personally? (i.e. what makes your team special)
9. Why do you really want to do this? (again back to the team, the passion, what brought you together, your purpose and vision and impact you want to have on the world)
10. What is your exit strategy? (aka what is the deal you’re offering to investors, typically exchange funds for shares of your business)
And if you need help in preparing for pitching to investors, our new Activate Flexible Foundation Programme can provide all the support you need.
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