MOST FREQUENTLY ASKEDQUESTIONS BY INVESTORS

STARTUP ELITE

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M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S

STARTUP ELITEINTRODUCTION

Being Prepared: It is very important to know what type of questions to expect from investors. If you struggle answering the hard or unexpected questions when speaking about your company that is a red flag for an investor. Being prepared is a key to show your professionalism.

No Limits: Unlike job interviews, investors don’t really have any legal limitations about what they can ask an entrepreneur. Because they don’t have those limitations they can and often do ask anything they feel is important which might include personal questions (we’ve included some examples for you).

Questions: We have identified for you the most frequently asked questions by investors through extensive research and our experience in dealing with investors over the past decade.

Redundancy: Sometimes the questions might feel slightly redundant. It depends on how detailed you were in answering some of the other questions.

Multi-Functional: These are not only the most frequently asked questions by investors but also by people who you are trying to recruit on your executive board, advisory board or into the company in general.

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S

STARTUP ELITEOVERVIEW

We have separated the questions into three categories: 1) Business 2) Financials 3) Management

- The questions are not listed in any particular order- Not all of the questions will apply to your business- You can expect to be asked a lot more questions than included in this presentation- Be prepared to answer industry-specific questions which we did not include here

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is your industry and your business?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

How will your company grow?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is the biggest challenge for your company?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

How does the economy affect your business?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What gives your company a competitive advantage?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Who are your customers?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

How do you plan to acquire and keep customers?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Why did you choose this market over another market?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What drives customer satisfaction for this industry and this product/service category?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is the projected lifetime of your product or service?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Is there a proven demand for your product/service?What research supports that claim?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is your pricing model based on?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is your legal liability concerning your products/services?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Does the company have proprietary intellectual property in the form of patents, trademarks, copyrights etc.?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What’s the barrier of entry for competition?How easily can you be copied?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What’s going to stop a big company from copying you?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is your strategy to handle competition?

BUSINESS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

How did you get your initial startup capital?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What did you do with your initial startup capital?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What’s your revenue model?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is additional funding going to do for you?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Why are you raising the amount of money that you want to raise?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

How long do you expect this investment capital to last?When and how are you planning on securing more funding?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is your current revenue and how much of that is profit?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Explain the fixed and variables costs in your business model?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Who else have you spoken to concerning this investment?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is your investment proposal?What are you offering?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What is your exit strategy?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

How much money can I potentially earn as an investor and what happens if the company goes belly up?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

How much do you have invested in your own company?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What and how are you being compensated from this project and/or investment?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

How much have other people invested into your company and what has been their return so far?

FINANCIALS

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What does your team look like and what is their background?

MANAGEMENT

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What selection criteria have you used to assemble your current management team?

MANAGEMENT

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What kind of experience does your management team have in this field?

MANAGEMENT

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Do you and your partners have any relevant diplomas, degrees, certifications etc.?

MANAGEMENT

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Are all the key people in place?Are there any management gaps?

MANAGEMENT

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What do you expect to be my involvement/role as an investor in the company?

MANAGEMENT

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

Are you currently doing something else for money or are you running your business full-time?

MANAGEMENT

M O S T F R E Q U E N T LY A S K E D Q U E S T I O N S B Y I N V E S TO R S STARTUP ELITE

What makes you sure that you will succeed with this business?

MANAGEMENT

CONTACT

STARTUP ELITEF O U N D E D B Y M A R K U S B I E G E L

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