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01. THE PITCH
Evaluation and analysis of the startup's pitch or presentation to potential investors, partners, or stakeholders. It involves assessing how effectively the startup communicates its business idea, value proposition, and growth potential to secure funding or support.
- Do you have written down your Exit Strategy scenarios?
- Can you explain your business idea within the 3 minutes? It is essential to be able to tell the project idea in a very short speech. Are you ready?
- Do you have your Pitch presentation? Is your presentation ready in the final format? Did you agreed the presentation quality with an independent counterparty.
- Do you have an Executive summary? It should be a letter on the A4 page format that briefs your potential investor about the key benefits and profitability?
- Do you have a CEO Interview article? A blog-type of the article in the format of a short interview where a startup's CEO answers 10-15 the most important facts about the project.
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02. THE SOLUTION
Evaluation and analysis of the startup's product or service offering. It involves assessing how effectively the startup's solution addresses a specific problem or meets a need in the market.
- Can you describe your product in a few sentences?
- Have you written down your solution analysis? Do you understand your solution strengths and weaknesses?
- Do you have an explanatory video or infographics? Do you have some visualization of your solution? Are you ready for those who are lazy to read your pitch and letter?
- Can you explain in a few sentences - how your customers can use your product?
- Can you tell at least three use cases of your product benefits for customers?
- Can you describe what problem your company solves?
- Have you written down the metrics of problems, their rating, and qualification? Usually, it is in the form of an Excel sheet.
- Did you made an Impact Analysis of the problem that you are solving in real use cases? Do you have some documentation and metrics?
- Have you evaluated the sustainability of your company and how can you work with reduction of its environmental impact?
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03. STRATEGY
Evaluation and analysis of the startup's strategic approach to achieving its business objectives and goals. It involves assessing how effectively the startup formulates and executes its overall strategy for growth and success.
- Do you have the idea where your business will be on the 10Y horizon?
- Do you have a clear vision of your business?
- Do you have written down your business, Mission, and fundaments?
- Do you have written down the Strategy and milestones?
- Do you have written down the list of goals?
- Do you have set the KPIs for every goal?
- Do you have your list of Milestones aligned with your project development roadmap?
- Do you have clear controlling stages and executive review meetings in your roadmap?
- Do you have plans for investment/company exit?
- Have you defined the roles and responsibilities of each team member in your company?
- Do you have a growth plan for the next 1, 3 and 5 years?
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04. PRODUCT
Evaluation and analysis of the startup's core product or service offering. It involves assessing the features, functionality, quality, and value proposition of the product or service.
- Do you know how to sell your product?
- Do you have written down the services and activities to execute during every sales cycle?
- Do you have the products mix written down?
- Do you have your features, options, and discounts Strategy written down?
- Have you calculated the expected profit?
- Do you have written down your revenue sources?
- Do you understand the pricing structure?
- Do you have prepared Economy Pricing?
- Do you have ready Penetration Pricing?
- Do you have set Premium Pricing?
- Have you identified the necessary resources for the growth of your company, such as technology, infrastructure, personnel, etc.?
- Do you have a strategy for continuous innovation and development of new products or services in the future?
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05. MARKET
Evaluation and analysis of the target market and industry dynamics in which the startup operates. It involves assessing the startup's understanding of its target market, customers, competitors, and the overall market conditions.
- Do you understand your market segment enough?
- Did you made an in-depth Market Analysis? Do you know your position?
- Did you analyzed your industry trends and their forecasts for the next few years?
- Have you conducted market tests to validate the demand for your product or service?
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06. COMPETITION
Evaluation and analysis of the competitive landscape in which the startup operates. It involves assessing the startup's competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and the strategies they employ to gain market share and customer loyalty.
- Do you know who your direct competitors are?
- Do you have written down your competitor's matrix? Did you collect any advanced information about them and their products?
- Do you think about the creation of a partnership network? Do you have the list of your potential partners written down?
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07. CUSTOMERS
Evaluation and analysis of the startup's target customers, their needs, preferences, and the strategies the startup employs to acquire and retain customers. It involves assessing how well the startup understands its customers, aligns its product or service offering with their needs, and effectively engages and serves them.
- Can you describe your target customer profile?
- Do you have written down your customer segmentation? Who they are, what are they doing, and what are their interests?
- Do you have written down your targeting metrics? What audience will listen to you, what is their location, and similar parameters?
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08. MARKETING
Evaluation and analysis of the startup's marketing strategies, tactics, and activities. It involves assessing how effectively the startup promotes its products or services, reaches its target audience, and creates awareness, interest, and demand for its offerings.
- Do you have written down your marketing strategy?
- Have you created a marketing plan and milestones?
- Did you plan the budget for marketing activities?
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09. SALES
Evaluation and analysis of the startup's sales strategies, processes, and performance. It involves assessing how effectively the startup generates revenue, acquires customers, and achieves its sales targets.
- How well does the lead system allow for profiling customers and their needs and understanding the source of leads, the source of sales, and the costs of generating both?
- Formal and informal communication methods allow all constituencies to regularly report opportunities and concerns. How regularly?
- Company has formal processes and actions to gather and review customer sales, demographic and lifestyle data, including obtaining feedback from both customers and non-customers that could lead to improvements or new products. How good it works?
- Do you use strategies to identify and engage with potential customers for your products or services? And is so, how well is it?
- Do you track and analyze sales data to identify trends and optimize your sales process? How often?
- Do you take steps to ensure that your sales team is trained and equipped to effectively communicate the value of your products or services to potential customers? And is so, how well is it?
- Do you have process to handle objections and resistance from potential customers during the sales process? And is so, how well is it?
- Do you have techniques to build long-term relationships with existing customers and maximize customer lifetime value? And is so, how well is it?
- Did you plan your ways to the customer? Do you understand how to contact them?
- Do you have written down the list of marketing channels and networks?
- Do you have a marketing campaign plan, including the milestones, schedules, and communication plan?
- Are your customers returning to you?
- Do you have a customer's loyalty strategy written down? Do you understand the keys why your customer should come again?
- Do you have written down the customer's lifecycle workflow?
- Do you know your product's customers?
- Do you have written down your trust-building tactics and scenarios to approach during the sales expansion?
- Do you have written down sales cycles and scenarios?
- Do you know who you are on the market?
- Do you have written down competition drivers, metrics, and Strategy on how to power up your market position?
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10. TRACTION
Evaluation and analysis of the startup's progress, growth, and market traction. It involves assessing how effectively the startup has gained traction in the market, acquired customers, and achieved milestones or key performance indicators (KPIs).
- Do you understand the key drivers of your business?
- Do you understand what the Success Keys for your business are?
- Do you have your team Matrix and staff administration well-organized?
- Do you have written down your wish (to be) Organization Chart?
- Do your team members have any financial participation in the company?
- Do you have some history of the business? The real sales results, active partnerships, and public presentation?
- Do you have any Press Releases?
- Do you have a Social Networks traction to show?
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11. FINANCE
Evaluation and analysis of the startup's financial management practices, financial performance, and overall financial health. It involves assessing how effectively the startup manages its finances, allocates resources, and achieves financial objectives.
- Do you have a Business Case?
- Are you able to share your Income Statement?
- Are you able to share your Balance Sheet?
- Are you able to share your Cash-flow Statement?
- Do you have enough money for the current business growth?
- Do you have written down the Funding Plan?
- Do you have written down the funding conditions?
- We have ability to budget marketing comes from comparing industry standards with company’s competitive and financial situation.
- Do you regularly allocate your marketing budget and controlling return on investment for each channel?
- Do you measure the success of your marketing campaigns and what metrics do you use to evaluate them?
- Do you manage cash flow during seasonal or campaign-driven fluctuations in revenue?
- Is your approach to pricing and how do you evaluate the profitability of different product lines?
- Do you track and manage expenses related to advertising and promotion based on strategies to reduce costs while maintaining effectiveness?
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12. RISKS
Evaluation and analysis of potential risks and challenges that may impact the success and sustainability of the startup. It involves assessing the startup's ability to identify, assess, and manage various types of risks, including strategic, operational, financial, and external risks.
- Do you understand your risk areas?
- Do you have written down your risks, their rating?
- Do you have a contingency plan in case of unforeseen situations or crises in your company?