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Investment Memo

Company Overview

  • 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?

Customer

Target Market / Customer

  • 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?

Problem / Need

  • What problem is being addressed?
  • How severe is this problem?
  • How has the problem been validated?

Product

Product & Wedge

  • Describe the product in detail.
  • How does this address the problem stated above?

Defensibility

  • What is defensible?
  • What is not defensible?
  • What has to happen in order for defensibility to become real?

Go-To-Market

  • What is the GTM strategy?
  • How feasible is it?
  • What all has to happen in order for this product to become adopted?

Monetization

  • 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?

Market

  • 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?

Market Size

  • 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.

Competition

  • 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.

Advantage

  • Why is this company better than the rest of the field?
  • What is their unique advantage?
  • How sustainable is this advantage?
Competitor Analysis Template: Link

Traction

Product

  • What has been built and shipped?
  • What is still in production?
  • What is the product roadmap and timeline?

Metrics

  • What quantitative metrics are being tracked?
  • What progress has been made so far?
  • The more data points, the better.
Saas Metrics Dashboard: Link

Team

Founding Team

  • Who is the founding team?
  • What are their backgrounds?
  • How did they meet?

Core Team

  • 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?

Perspectives

  • 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?

Core Traits

  • 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?

Fundraise

Round Dynamics

  • 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?

Roadmap & Milestones

  • What are the business and product milestones?
  • How will this fundraise yield these milestones?
  • What is the hiring plan?

Waterfall Analysis

Waterfall Analysis - 1X Liquidation Preference**:** Link****

Decision Check

Basic Questions

  • 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?

Key Risks

  • 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?

Pitch Notes

  • 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