My company in 5 years?!?!

Founders, this is one of the most common questions you will get from investors 👇

Where do you think you can take the company in 5 years beyond your initial market and product?

What they are really asking:

This question has several elements. The first is probing your vision, to see whether the goals you have set for the company are too or not sufficiently ambitious. The second is looking at the long-term market opportunity, beyond your beachhead market. The third is “kicking the tyres” on whether you have a clear understanding of what it will take to execute on the longer term opportunity.

Where you should look for the answer:

Here you want to talk about your vision, roadmap, value proposition and execution capabilities.

On vision, be clear about your ambition, goals and how you will know/measure what you have achieved.

On the market opportunity, you need to have a really good understanding of your market, and how you can move effectively from your beachhead market to the broader markets available to you as you grow the business. Also emphasize your unique value proposition and why this will increase over time as you serve more customers.

Finally, refer back to question 2 (our previous blog post) about scaling the business. Even if you do not have all the answers today on how fast you can ramp resources up, demonstrate that you have an initial plan for this, which will be improved as you get market feedback.

How to make your answer compelling:

The further your forecasts and plans go out into the future, the more assumptions and uncertainties they contain. Don’t be scared to admit this to investors. Rather, address potential concerns upfront and show that you have thought about internal and external issues that will impact how your roadmap develops – and have a range of options to pursue depending on how your market and sales develop over time.

At an early stage – and in your beachhead market – you will be learning a huge amount initially about your customers and how best to structure and deliver your product/service. Make sure that investors see iteration loops in your plans to make the most of the new information you will generate, and assure them that as stakeholders in the business, they would be kept informed.

If you need help with your pitch preparation, our team of mentors can get you investor ready. Learn more and book a FREE chat.