創業者在向風險投資人推銷自己的初創公司時，必須提前做好準備，設想投資人會提出哪些問題。對于風險投資人的問題，如果不能提供考慮周全的、合理的答案，會使公司獲得投資的幾率大大降低。下面是創業者們在推銷時必須回答的或者有可能被問到的一些關鍵問題：

關于公司概況

在創業者向投資者推銷的過程中，風險投資人首先希望創業者簡明扼要地概述公司在做什么，它憑什么吸引投資者的興趣，以及它為何最終能夠帶來巨大的退出機會。因此，這個話題可能涵蓋下面的問題：

? 公司的業務是什么？

? 公司有什么獨特之處？

? 公司業務能給客戶解決什么重要問題？

? 市場機會有多大？

? 公司總部在哪里？

? 公司可以發展到多大規模？

關于市場空間

你需要向投資人描繪一幅清晰的藍圖，說明市場機會巨大，并且機會會越來越多，在這方面，你可能遇到下面的問題：

? 真實的潛在目標市場是什么？

? 你計劃在多長時間內獲得多少市場份額？

? 你如何達到行業的銷售規模以及增長率？

? 為什么你的公司擁有巨大增長潛力？

關于創始人與團隊

在許多投資人看來，管理團隊才是決定是否投資最重要的元素。創業者必須證明他們對公司充滿激情，全情投入，并且有相關領域的豐富經驗。創業者可能會被問及下面的問題：

? 公司創始人和關鍵團隊成員是誰？

? 團隊具備哪些相關領域的經驗？

? 短期內，團隊需要補充哪些關鍵職位？

? 為什么團隊具備執行公司商業計劃的獨特能力？

? 公司目前有多少名員工？

? 是什么在激勵著創始人？

? 未來12個月，你計劃通過什么方式擴大團隊規模？

關于產品與服務

創業者必須明確闡述公司的產品或服務，說明其內容及獨特之處，因此可能會遇到下列問題：

? 對于你的產品或服務，用戶關心的是什么？

? 有哪些重要的產品開發里程碑？

? 你的產品或服務有哪些關鍵的差異化特性？

? 你從早期版本的產品或服務中學到了什么？

? 提供產品或服務演示。

? 你計劃增添哪兩種或三種關鍵特性？

關于競爭形勢

任何公司都要面對競爭問題，如果有創業者說“我們沒有競爭對手”，投資人肯定會對其可信度產生疑問。所以，一定要提前準備好下列問題的答案：

? 公司有哪些競爭對手？

? 公司的競爭優勢是什么？

? 競爭對手擁有哪些你不具備的優勢？

? 你如何在價格、特性和業績方面，與競爭對手展開競爭？

? 行業有哪些進入壁壘？

關于市場營銷與客戶獲取

投資人希望了解公司計劃如何進行市場營銷，獲取客戶的成本，以及客戶的長期價值。所以，要準備好回答下列問題：

? 公司目前如何營銷或計劃如何營銷其產品或服務？

? 公司執行了怎樣的公關策略？

? 公司采取了怎樣的社交媒體策略？

? 客戶獲取成本是多少？

? 客戶的預期生命周期價值是什么？

? 你會進行哪些廣告宣傳？

? 從最初的客戶接觸到完成銷售，中間通常會經歷怎樣的銷售周期？

關于吸引力

一家公司如果已經獲得了某種早期吸引力，對投資人來說將是利好消息，所以要準備好回答下面的問題：

? 公司獲得了哪些早期吸引力（銷量、公司網站流量、應用下載量等）？

? 如何加快獲得早期吸引力的速度？

? 獲得早期吸引力的主要原因是什么？

關于風險

任何商業計劃都有風險，這是不可避免的，所以一定要認真準備下列問題的答案。

? 你認為公司面臨的主要風險是什么？

? 你面臨哪些法律風險？

? 你是否會面臨任何監管風險？

? 是否存在產品責任風險？

關于退出策略

投資人希望知道他們可以在什么時候以哪種方式退出，并獲得相應的投資回報，所以，他們可能會問：

? 公司可能采取怎樣的退出策略——IPO還是并購？

? 你認為可以在什么時候退出？

? 誰將是潛在買家？

? 如何根據市場可比數據，確定退出時的估值？

關于知識產權

對于許多公司而言，知識產權是成功的關鍵。投資人會特別關注下面這些問題的答案：

? 公司擁有哪些重要的知識產權（專利、未決專利、版權、商業機密、商標、域名）？

? 你有多大把握，保證公司的知識產權未侵犯第三方的權利？

? 公司如何開發出知識產權？

? 團隊成員之前的雇主是否會對公司的知識產權提出潛在訴求？

關于財務管理

任何一個投資人都會花時間去了解公司目前的財務狀況和未來的燒錢速度。所以，創業者要準備好回答下列問題：

? 公司對未來三年的預測是什么？

? 預測基于哪些關鍵假設？

? 公司分別有多少股權和債務；公司采用怎樣的資本化結構？

? 公司未來需要進行哪些股權或債務融資？

? 公司為員工預留出的股票期權池規模有多大？

? 公司何時能夠實現盈利？

? 公司盈利之前，需要投入多少資金？

? 公司的單位經濟效益是多少？

? 有哪些限制更快增長的因素？

? 管理團隊關注的關鍵衡量指標是什么？

關于融資活動

投資人希望明確公司在融資活動中將融得多少資金，以及下列相關信息：

? 此輪融資將融得多少資金？

? 公司期望的投資前估值是多少？

? 現有投資者是否會參與此輪融資？

? 計劃如何使用此輪融資的所得款項？

? 此輪融資將幫助你實現哪些發展里程碑？

實際上，思考并準備好上述問題的答案，并不必然保證你能獲得投資。相反，這是一次難得的創業思路整理。如果你覺得有些答案甚至不能讓自己滿意，那么，你最好反思創業項目的合理性和可行性，并及時調整改進。（財富中文網）

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

Entrepreneurs need to be prepared in pitching their startup companies to a venture capitalist by anticipating the questions they will receive. The failure to have thoughtful and reasonable answers to VC questions will decrease the likelihood of the company getting funded. The following is a list of key questions the entrepreneur should answer in the pitch or anticipate getting asked:

Overview

At the beginning of an investor pitch, the venture capitalists will want a clear and concise overview of what the company does, why it should be interesting, and why it would eventually lead to a large exit. So, expect that you will need to cover the following:

? What does the company do?

? What is unique about the company?

? What big problem does it solve?

? How big is the market opportunity?

? Where are you headquartered?

? How big can the company get?

Market

You will need to paint a clear picture that the market opportunity is meaningfully large and growing, so you will receive questions like:

? What is the actual addressable market?

? What percentage of the market do you plan to get over what period of time?

? How did you arrive at the sales of your industry and its growth rate?

? Why does your company have high growth potential?

Founders and Team

For many investors, the management team is the most important element in deciding whether or not to invest. Entrepreneurs must show they are passionate, dedicated, and have relevant domain experience. So anticipate these questions:

? Who are the founders and key team members?

? What relevant domain experience does the team have?

? What key additions to the team are needed in the short term?

? Why is the team uniquely capable to execute the company’s business plan?

? How many employees do you have?

? What motivates the founders?

? How do you plan to scale the team in the next 12 months?

Products and Services

The entrepreneur must clearly articulate what the company’s product or service consists of and why it is unique, so expect to get the following questions:

? Why do users care about your product or service?

? What are the major product milestones?

? What are the key differentiated features of your product or service?

? What have you learned from early versions of the product or service?

? Provide a demonstration of the product or service.

? What are the two or three key features you plan to add?

Competition

The company’s competitors will always be an issue and any entrepreneur who responds that “we do not have competitors” will have credibility problems. So make sure to anticipate the following questions:

? Who are the company’s competitors?

? What gives your company a competitive advantage?

? What advantages does your competition have over you?

? Compared to your competition, how do you compete with respect to price, features, and performance?

? What are the barriers to entry?

Marketing and Customer Acquisition

The investors want to get a sense of how the company plans to market itself, the cost of acquiring a customer, and the long-term value of a customer. So, be prepared for the following:

? How does the company market or plan to market its products or services?

? What is the company’s PR strategy?

? What is the company’s social media strategy?

? What is the cost of a customer acquisition?

? What is the projected lifetime value of a customer?

? What advertising will you be doing?

? What is the typical sales cycle between initial customer contact and closing of a sale?

Traction

A company that has gotten early traction in some way will be viewed positively, so be prepared to answer these questions:

? What early traction has the company gotten (sales, traffic to the company’s website, app downloads, etc., as relevant).

? How can the early traction be accelerated?

? What has been the principal reasons for the early traction?

Risks

There inevitably are risks in any business plan, so plan to answer these questions thoughtfully:

? What do you see are the principal risks to the business?

? What legal risks do you have?

? Do you have any regulatory risks?

? Are there any product liability risks?

End Game

The investors will want to get a sense of when and how they will be able to exit and receive a return on their investment, so they will ask:

? What is the likely exit – IPO or M&A?

? When do you see the exit happening?

? Who will be the likely acquirers?

? How will valuation of an exit be determined given market comparables?

Intellectual Property

For many companies, their intellectual property will be a key to success. The investors will pay particular attention to the answers to these questions:

? What key intellectual property does the company have (patents, patents pending, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, domain names)?

? What comfort do you have that the company’s intellectual property does not violate the rights of a third party?

? How was the company’s intellectual property developed?

? Would any prior employers of a team member have a potential claim to the company’s intellectual property?

Financials

Any investor will spend time understanding the company’s current financial situation and proposed future burn rate. Be well prepared for these questions:

? What are the company’s three-year projections?

? What are the key assumptions underlying your projections?

? How much equity and debt has the company raised; what is the capitalization structure?

? What future equity or debt financing will be necessary?

? How much of a stock option pool is being set aside for employees?

? When will the company get to profitability?

? How much burn will occur until the company gets to profitability?

? What are your unit economics?

? What are the factors that limit faster growth?

? What are the key metrics that the management team focuses on?

Financing Round

The investors will want to get a clear picture of how much is being raised in the financing round and related information as follows:

? How much is being raised in this round?

? What is the company’s desired pre-money valuation?

? Will existing investors participate in the round?

? What is the planned use of proceeds from this round?

? What milestones will the financing get you to?