5 QUESTIONS STARTUP CEOS NEED

TO ANSWER TO RAISE MONEY

Funding your Startup

When trying to raise money for your startup, being

able to answer these five questions in 2 – 3 sentences

is crucial for any angel investor or VC to seriously

consider funding your startup.

Here are 5 questions you need to answer

when raising money!

What questions should you be asking

yourself about raising money?

Why your team?

What problem do you solve?

How big is that problem?

How is your solution different?

What’s your go to market strategy?

Why your team?

Sit down and really think out what pieces you need to build that perfect team, and then do your best to have them on board before raising your round.

When you talk about your team to an angel or VC, consider the following to make them feel you are the right one’s for the job:

Name Drop: If someone on your team has worked for a well known company & successful company in the industry where your startup is playing, make sure to mention it.

Define their roles: You need to be able to explain clearly and concisely what each team member brings to the table and why they are a critical asset to your team.

What problem do you solve?

Although this may seem obvious, I can’t tell you how many

pitches I’ve seen that don’t adequately answer this question.

It is critical that you can clearly define the problem that you

are solving to an investor in a simple way that your mother

would be able to understand. If you can’t, the next thing an

investor will say to themselves is “If you can’t explain it to me,

how will you be able to explain it to your target audience?”

How big is that problem?

When you are meeting an angel for the first time, your

credibility with them is low, so giving an abstract answer to the

size of the problem isn’t going to close a deal.

Do your homework and cite actual statistics to show the size of

the problem your new product or service is solving.

How is your solution different?

There is always going to be direct or indirect competitors in

your space, so make sure to know why you are better in terms

of benefits. Here are some to get the creative juices flowing:

Is your solution cheaper?

Does it make your customers life easier?

Does it save time?

Build your MVP and do your best to put a case study together

showing a proof of concept to prove to a potential investor

that your solution actually does what you say it does.

What’s your go to market strategy?

When you haven’t sold your solution to anyone yet, every

market is a billion dollar one.

What an angel investor is more concerned about when you are

a pre-revenue company is about how you are going to carve

out a niche in the market, serve them well, and then scale your

solution to a wider audience.

Be Prepared.

These 5 questions aren’t the only ones you’ll be asked,

but they’re a good start.

Investors want to see that you know what you are

talking about and why they should choose you to

invest in.

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