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Investment Memo
- What does the company do? Why is this a compelling opportunity?
- What is your hypothesis of the future, and how does this opportunity fit within it?
Mission / Vision
- Why was the company formed?
- What was the pain point being addressed?
- Where did this pain point originate from?
- Who is the company selling to?
- What types of firms?
- Who within the organization specifically?
- Does this person have the authority to guide purchase decisions?
- What problem is being addressed?
- How severe is this problem?
- How has the problem been validated?
- Describe the product in detail.
- How does this address the problem stated above?
- What is defensible?
- What is not defensible?
- What has to happen in order for defensibility to become real?
- What is the GTM strategy?
- How feasible is it?
- What all has to happen in order for this product to become adopted?
- How does the company plan to make money over time?
- What is the pricing model?
- Is the pricing model tiered?
- How are different tiers categorized?
- What trends support the adoption of this type of technology?
- What have been the outcomes of previous teams that have tried to do this in the past?
- If they failed, why did they fail?
- Clearly define the market.
- Does a market exist or does it need to be created?
- Is this an expanding or contracting market opportunity?
- Quantify the total size of the opportunity then work backwards to estimate what percentage of the total market is obtainable.
- Who is the direct and indirect competition?
- Who are potential competitors?
- How aware are the founding team of their competition?
- This should never be left blank.
- Why is this company better than the rest of the field?
- What is their unique advantage?
- How sustainable is this advantage?
- What has been built and shipped?
- What is still in production?
- What is the product roadmap and timeline?
- What quantitative metrics are being tracked?
- What progress has been made so far?
- The more data points, the better.
- Who is the founding team?
- What are their backgrounds?
- How did they meet?
- Who else is on the core team?
- What are their different roles?
- What are their backgrounds?
- Why did they leave their previous roles to join this company?
- What is truly unique about the team?
- Why are they better than other teams you have passed on?
- What are their collective insights towards the problem they are solving?
- Can they build the product?
- Are they leaders you would follow?
- Do they understand the customer?
- Can they ship and sell their vision?
- Do they have tenacity, grit, hustle?
- Do they have self-awareness?
- Do they have unwavering conviction?
- Are they on a mission?
- What are the proposed terms for the fundraise (amount seeking, pre/post-money valuation if priced, valuation cap/discount/interest if convertible)?
- What are the uses of funds?
- How long will this extend runway?
- How much has been committed towards the round?
- Who has committed to the round?
- Did previous investors follow on?
- What are the business and product milestones?
- How will this fundraise yield these milestones?
- What is the hiring plan?
- Is this breakthrough technology?
- Is now the right time to start?
- Are they starting with a big share of a small market?
- Do they have the right team in place?
- Do you have a clear way to distribute the product?
- Is their business and market position defensible?
- Have they identified an opportunity that others cannot see yet?
- Can your team add value to this business?
- What are the risks you need to get comfortable with if you are to invest into this opportunity?
- Do the risks justify the upside rewards?
- What did you like/dislike?
- What did the partners think of the opportunity at first glance?
- What are concerns coming out of the meeting?
- Can answers to these concerns lead to a "yes" from the partners, or are there any dealbreakers?
Last modified 2yr ago