“To be prepared is half the victory” –Miguel de Cervantes

Whether you are putting together your pitch deck or prepping for an interview with an investor, the more prepared you are, the better. Especially if this is your first time through the process of investors and fundraising, it is easy to get overwhelmed and even a bit intimidated by the questions. So here are some top questions you need to be prepared to answer. Remember questions are good, it usually means you have piqued the investor’s interest. You can practice responding to these questions with your team until you feel comfortable.

Today, in part one of our series on investor’s questions, we’re going to cover general questions, founders, and available market. While this list is not exhaustive, we hope it gives you a place to start preparing.

General Questions
If you are using a fundraising platform like Crowdfunder, then these questions should be part of your pitch deck so when you get to talk to an interested investor, they may or may not revisit them. Investors want to know what your company does and why they should be interested. These are essentially your icebreaker or big-picture questions.

• What does your company do and what makes it unique?
• What big problem does your company solve for your customers?
• How big is the market for your product or service?
• How big can the company get?
• What is your end game?

Company’s Founder & Key Team Members
For many investors, particularly in the seed or round one level, they are looking for the dynamic, dedicated leader with vision and a solid, experienced team. The types of investors you want to work with are the ones who are investing in a vision, a dream, a team, and not just in it for the money.

• Who are the founders or founder and the key team members?
• What motivates and drives the founder or founders?
• What experience does the team have?
• Do you plan to scale the team over the next 12 months?
• Why is this the team to take this company to the next level?
• Are there gaps in the key team that need to be filled?

Available Market
Investors are looking for enough growth potential to make it worth their investment. You will need to demonstrate that the market for your product or service is large and growing. Do your research! Be familiar with historical as well as upcoming trends in your market. Be prepared to be able to cite sources for your claims.

• What percentage of the market do you currently hold (if any)?
• What percentage of the market do you intend to take and what is your timeline for doing so?
• What is the actual size of the addressable market?
• Why does your company have the potential to increase market penetration?

In this article, “Top Questions Investors Ask” we’ve covered what kind of general company questions are common. We also touched on what you need to be prepared to answer about your team and the market. In our next article, “Top Questions Investors Ask Part 3″ we will cover questions about your products and services, your competition, and customer acquisition.

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