You are on page 1of 16

COMPANY NAME

Mission
Why should this person be enthusiastic about your idea? He or she sees quite a few of these a day. How do you stand out?

this the Petes Coffee for X industry" or the Apple for Y industry"

Market

your total available market. In other words, what your revenue would be if you got 100% of your target customers paying what you expect. Is this market big enough to yield a highlyvalued company. Could this be a Cisco or Yahoo? For institutional VC you typically need opportunity for > $250M in revenues in a high margin business

Problem We Are Solving

Who is the customer? do they matter? what problem does the customer have today? why is that a big problem, why is it their biggest problem? Ideal: We solve the most important problem for customers who are high gross margin, high growth companies in high growth sectors who move very quickly and frequently buy products from startups.

How We Solve The Problem


What is your solution? why is it unique? why has nobody done this before? What has changed that allows room for a startup here? Ideal: you have come up with a solution that you found due to exclusive domain expertise that is really hard for others to match.

Technology Status
If big IP piece, several slides on the state of technology development Is there a lot of "R" left, lots of "D" left, or is the product done? Ideal: all the risk of research is done, no major unsolved problems remain

Customers
Who has agreed to pay for the product? who are betas, etc.? Question you are addressing: are there customers that matter with high willingness to pay? Ideal: reference-worthy customers who are falling over themselves to get the product

Get to Market Strategy


How will you get in front of the customer? Direct, Indirect, Distribution, etc. Is there a channel that can allow this company to get their product to customers profitably? Anyone in the way of this startup reaching their customers? Ideal: Product falls off the shelf fast; very easy, short sales cycle.

Per Customer Economics

What they will pay? What will it costs to service them? what will it cost to acquire them?

Ideal: you can reach customers very inexpensively, yet get big revenue out of them

Key Milestones
What happens when? beta, FCS, breakeven cash flow, etc. What information does this round of $$ buy?

Team

Top 6-7 people with one sub-bullet on relevant past. Q: Why this is a world-class team with relevant skills to pull this off? Why they can recruit from their networks? What have they done before that is special and relevant? Have they done it before or are they learning on the job? Ideal: Done it before, recruiting is easy, key team in place, success follows all these guys yet they are hungry for a defining moment in their careers in building a world-class company.

Financials

Last 2 and next two quarters, next year, 2 years out, 3 years out across the top. Key metrics on the vertical: # customers, big revenue lines, COGS, gross marking, big expense lines, net income, cash flow, cum cash flow How are the gross margins (how competitive)? How quickly the company ramps, how many $$ before reaching profitability. Do these guys understand how a company ramps? Ideal: Healthy ramp, not too many $$ and not too long to profitability, great gross margins. Duh.

Competition Overview
2x2 matrix of the competition with the two variables that matter on the X and Y How is the company positioned in the landscape with all the other companies I've seen? How are companies in this category valued? Do I know about competitors that these guys don't have listed or are these guys clued in on their competition? No big uglies to eat the startups lunch. Not a bunch of $$ already invested by other VCs in companies attacking the same over-capitalized space.

Competition Specifics
The top 2 or 3 competitors, one/two liner on their story (funding, etc), one/two liner on why you beat them. Do I believe these guys can win? Who are the couple to focus due diligence efforts on? Ideal: no one else has raised significant $$ yet.

Financing History
How much went in so far, when, at what price? Who are current investors, how much they own, who is on the board, how much are you raising now and at what price, what is the cap table, how big is the unallocated pool? Is cap table in good shape, are there helpful people around the company? Do I know any of the investors whose opinion I trust? Ideal: First round or gave away less than 20% to the first round guys. First round guys are helpful, reasonable characters who've helped the company get their DNA right out of the chute. First round guys are guys we know and respect and want to work with and can give us a quick read on the pros/cons of the opportunity.

Comparables
Companies in and around the space, valuations, revenues, gross margin Will this be a valuable company if they execute? Ideal: There are obvious big, well-valued companies around who would try to buy the company. All valued at very high multiples, but an underserved segment that allows a startup to build a valuable company

You might also like