Analyzing Venture Opportunities Part 1: The Product and Market – Will Robbins

I spend a lot of time talking about business opportunities through my work with Contrary. I’ve noticed that many first-time founders forget to cover certain topics in meetings and pitches. If you’ve been thinking about a startup for a long time, non-obvious ideas become can so ingrained in your head that it’s hard to articulate the assumptions you’re making. This is a list of things that VCs consider when analyzing a venture opportunity’s product and market—make sure to touch on each when talking with a VC. Note that every answer to these questions does NOT have to be perfect. Part of analyzing a business is finding the flaws (there’s always at least one) and thinking about how it can be overcome or compensated for. Don’t sweat it too much if you can’t find a great answer to some of these questions. Part 2: Thinking About People is now available!

I spend a lot of time talking about business opportunities through my work with Contrary. I’ve noticed that many first-time founders forget to cover certain topics in meetings and pitches. If you’ve been thinking about a startup for a long time, non-obvious ideas become can so ingrained in your head that it’s hard to articulate the assumptions you’re making. This is a list of things that VCs consider when analyzing a venture opportunity’s product and market—make sure to touch on each when talking with a VC. Note that every answer to these questions does NOT have to be perfect. Part of analyzin