10 questions to ask a founder you're meeting for the first time

Hi! I’m glad you’re here. You’ve made it to issue #11 of VC Demystified🪄.

My name’s Nicole - I’m a Principal at an early stage venture fund, and I know firsthand that VC can often be a black box. Breaking into the industry may feel daunting and resources can seem scarce and inaccessible. I wanted to put together a newsletter to give others the playbook I wish I had when I first started.

We now have 3K+ of you receiving this each week! And I’d love to get to know you better 👇🏼

Today’s deep dive: Essential questions to ask a founder when you’re evaluating their startup for potential investment

My personal mission is to open as many doors as possible for other people and this newsletter is just one avenue to do that. As always, I will continue to post VC insights daily across my socials for those of you who prefer those channels.

Essential questions to ask a founder when you’re evaluating their startup for potential investment

As an aspiring or new VC, taking founder calls can be intimidating. I remember when I first started in the industry I was always nervous when I got on a call with a founder, so much so that my voice would crack!

So what makes these calls so scary in the early days of being a VC? Here are some reasons:

• You’re talking to people who have more experience than you

• You’re dealing with new and/or unknown industries and ideas

• You’re still getting a handle on what makes a good VC investment

• You’re getting familiar with your firm’s thesis

• You’re figuring out what info you need to pitch a new deal to your team

These are only a handful of the reasons, but there are definitely more!

In this newsletter issue, I’m going to give you 10 essential questions to ask a founder in your intro call with them. These questions cover various categories including startup, market, customer, fundraising details and more.

I will note that these questions are for introductory calls, but of course as you get more in the weeds with the founder throughout diligence these questions should expand and become more specific to the startup.

The 10 questions listed in this issue should give you enough information to make a call on whether you should pitch the investment to your team and continue on with diligence.

Let’s get into it!

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