# FAQ, Pitch, and Feedback Brainstorming

# FAQ

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/12TXWLlHvofRtW-0UUpCKitBrLr5U5aj7-vX13ikDXMs/mobilebasic

# Feedback

Questions to guide your feedback

- What are the main benefits you've gotten from Grey Software?
- Did Grey Software help you achieve any personal goals?
- Are you likely to recommend Grey Software to others? Which people would you tell about Grey Software and why do you think it would help them?

# Startup Questions

### https://www.molfar.io/blog/yc-questions

**1\. Problem**

- What problem are you solving? 

- What problem will be solved at the end of what you are doing? 

- What do we expect the result to be?

- Can you state the problem clearly in two sentences?

- Have you experienced the problem yourself?

- Can you define this problem narrowly? 

- Who can you help first? 

- What can we address immediately? 

- How do we get the first indication this thing is working?

- Is the problem solveable?

**2\. Customer**

- Who is your customer? 

- Who is the ideal first customer? 

- How will they know if your product has solved the problem? 

- How often(frequency)does your user have the problem? 

- Who is getting the most value out of your product?

- How intense is the problem? 

- Are they willing to pay?

- How easy is it for your customer to find your product?

- Which customers should you run away from?

**3\. Product**

- Does your product actually solve the problem? Be truthful. How and why not?

- Which customers should you go after first? 

- How do you find people who are willing to use your“bad”first versions of your product? 

- Who are the most desperate customers as how do you talk to them first? 

- Whose business is going to go out of business without using you?

- Are you discounting or starting with a super low price? Are you consider this approach? If so, why?

**4\. Performance**

- What are you using to measure how users are interacting with your product?

- What 5-10 metrics are you measuring to understand how your product functions? Why those metrics?

- When you build a new product or feature, what is the metric that will improve because of that feature/product?

- What number do you track to show how well your company is doing? 

- What is your top level KPI(revenue,usage)?

- What are the underlying metrics that contribute to achieving your top level KPI(newusers, retention of users, content created => DAUs at Social Cam)? 

- Which of these metrics are you trying to move this development cycle?

**5\. Product Development**

- How long is your product dev cycle? What is causing it to be that long?

- Who is writing down notes at your product dev meeting?

- Which category does each of your brainstormed ideas fit: New features/interactions on existing ones; bug fixes/other maintenance; A/B tests? 

- How easy/medium/hard are they to do? 

- How can you restate the hard ideas (disaggregate idea into smaller ideas)? 

- What parts of hard ideas are useless or hard? Are there other options?

- Which hard idea will improve act the KPI the most? Which medium? Which easy?

- What is the spec for the product/feature we want to build?

### Overview

- What does your company do uniquely well for whom?

### Team

- How and why did you come together to solve this problem?
- How are you uniquely qualified to build this business?
- Share a brief overview of your trajectory: What’s impressive? What’s not?

### Market Opportunity

- Why now? (Why is this the right time for this business?)
- Is this a new category? How new?
- **Bottom-up market sizing = \[# of Customers\] * \[Price They’re Willing to Pay\]**
1. Who is your specific customer?
2. How many of them are there?
3. How many of them can you realistically reach?
4. At what price will they buy?
5. Then, perhaps the most challenging: How many will buy from you?

### Product and Value Proposition

**Value Proposition:** Briefly describe the problem you’re solving, your [value proposition](https://underscore.vc/startupsecrets/how-to-write-a-value-proposition/), and why your product is relevant in the customer’s context. Define your specific value prop in a phrase:

> **For** (target customers)
> **Who are dissatisfied with** (the current alternative)
> **Our product is a** (new product)
> **That provides** (essential problem-solving capability)
> **Unlike** (the product alternative)

**For** university students

**Who are dissatisfied** with how their outdated curriculums are not effectively preparing them to create or scale software products

**Grey Software is** an organization of passionate software creators and educators

Who build open products and publish educational content to **help students worldwide learn by example**

Unlike universities that **can't teach students** how to build up-to-date software products **because they don't create** any of their own

#### Define the Problem to Determine if it’s Worth Solving

- **Is the problem Unworkable?** Does your solution fix a broken business process where there are real, measurable consequences to inaction? Will someone get fired if the issue is not addressed?
- **Startup Secret:** If the answer is yes, then that person will likely be your internal champion.
- **Is fixing the problem Unavoidable?** Is it driven by a mandate with implications associated with governance or regulatory control? For example, is it driven by a fundamental requirement for accounting or compliance?
- **Startup Secret:** If the answer is yes, then that group will likely be a champion.
- **Is the problem Urgent?** Is it one of the top few priorities for a company? In selling to enterprises, you’ll find it hard to command the attention and resources to get a deal done if you fall below this line.
- **Startup Secret:** If the answer is yes, then you know you’ll have the attention of the c-suite.
- **Is the problem Underserved?** Is there a conspicuous absence of valid solutions to the problem you’re looking to solve? Focus on the whitespace in a market or segment.
- **Startup Secret:** If the answer is yes, then you know the market is primed for the solution.

#### What unique combination of Discontinuous innovation, Defensible technology, and Disruptive business model are you using? What makes it truly compelling?

- **Discontinuous** innovations offer transformative benefits over the status quo by looking at a problem differently.
- **Defensible** technologies provide intellectual property that can create a barrier to entry and an unfair competitive advantage.
- **Disruptive** business models yield value and cost rewards that help catalyze a business’ growth.

### Competition

- What is the overall state of competition?
- Are you targeting whitespace?
- Where does your company outperform the competition?
- Where might it underperform?

### Go to Market

- What is your rationale for pursuing this strategy?
- What challenges will you encounter, and what are its strengths?
- What will be your key milestones and timeframe?
- Will you pursue multipliers and levers via sales and advertising channels?
- With what possible partners or channel resellers would you work?

### Customers and Partners

- Who is your target customer? Outline the buyer persona for each use case.
- Who influences their decisions? Describe their decision-making unit (DMU).
- What highlights from customer and prospect calls can you include? Validate the effectiveness of your go-to-market approach and set up the business model.
- What verticals or industries could benefit from your product? How much product or implementation customization would they require?

- **How tightly knit are the customers in your segment?**
- Do they talk to each other in (for example) community forums or trade associations? The closer they are, the more likely they are to reference each other efficiently. Think of this as the beginning of your viral loop.

- **Through which channels can you reach your MVS?**
- Following the point above, if your MVS can be reached via the same channel, that can help you focus your marketing.
- **Where does my MVS live/work?**
- If your MVS is in a close geographical area, you can easily reach them—a critical attribute in a high-touch-oriented solution.
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### Business Model

Share an overview of your [business model](https://underscore.vc/startupsecrets/disruptive-business-models/) and pricing. How does this company make money?

- What is it is that makes you different at your core?
- Why did you adopt this business model?
- What milestones will you target in its evolution?
- Are you aligning with well-established technology stacks?
- Is your product SLIPPERY?
- Simple, Low or no initial cost
- Installs easily
- Proves value quickly
- Plays well with others
- Easy to use
- ROI is obvious
- Your customers can’t live without it

### Key Risks of Investment

Outline key risks that would be involved in making this investment.

- What plans are in place to mitigate these risks in the next period?
- Public Pioneer posts

### Milestones for the Round

Describe the [key milestones](https://underscore.vc/startupsecrets/series-a-milestones/) you’ll target as you move from your current to a future round.

- Which milestones will increase your company’s value?
- Which will de-risk the venture?