BIZDEAL DOCTORPERSONALIZED DIAGNOSTIC

Before You Face a Deal SharkFind Out What's Wrong With Your Deal

Enter your real business numbers and deal terms. Get a personalized Deal Readiness Score, discover your 3 biggest weaknesses, understand whether you have a product or a real business, and get a prioritized plan for what to fix before an investor does.

Get My Deal Diagnosis →

Analysis and preparation only — not investment advice, and no guaranteed outcome.

Beta access · $37

Deal Doctor Business Readiness Report

Get a personalized reality check on your business before you pitch, raise money, or ask someone to bet on your company.

Who it's for

• Founders considering raising money
• Anyone preparing to pitch investors
• People preparing for a televised pitch or any other funding opportunity
• Owners who want an honest business reality check
• Anyone unsure whether they have a product or a real business

What you get

• Your Deal Readiness Score
• Product vs. Business classification
• Category scores with a written diagnosis
• Your top 3 deal risks
• Personalized valuation analysis
• Numbers and business-model diagnosis
• Investor challenge questions
• A “Fix Before You Pitch” action plan

Before

“I'm not sure if my business is ready.”

After

“I know exactly where my business is weak, what investors are likely to challenge, and what I need to fix next.”

Get My Deal Diagnosis →

Beta version — help us improve the diagnostic by testing it with your real business. No testimonials or results are claimed yet, and nothing here promises investment or acceptance anywhere.

7 THINGS INVESTORS WILL CHALLENGE

Educational checklist — optional background reading. Your own diagnosis comes first; this is the framework underneath it. Tap to open.

01 — Traction & Numbers

Terminology key

Search business terms

All business terms · 81 definitions

Artificial intelligence (AI): Computer systems that perform tasks such as prediction, pattern recognition, or generating content.
Average order value (AOV): The typical dollar amount of one customer order.
Barrier to entry: Anything that makes it hard for competitors to start doing what you do.
Bootstrapped: Funded by the founders and revenue — no outside investors.
Bottom-up market estimate: A market estimate built from reachable buyers × price × how often they purchase, rather than a broad industry headline.
Breakeven: Revenue covers expenses, leaving neither a profit nor a loss for that period.
Business model: How the company reliably makes money: who pays, for what, at what margin, acquired how.
Business-to-business (B2B) / Business-to-consumer (B2C) / Direct-to-consumer (DTC): Who you sell to: businesses (B2B), consumers (B2C), or directly to consumers (DTC) without retail middlemen.
Capital: Money invested in the business. Founder capital comes from you; outside capital comes from other people or organizations.
Capitalization table (cap table): A record of who owns the company, how much each person owns, and rights or agreements that can affect ownership.
Category: The type of product customers compare you against (e.g. meal kits, fitness apps).
Coachability: Willingness to take advice. Many investors pass on brilliant founders who won't listen.
Commodity risk: If anyone can source the same product, the main competition becomes price — investors often walk.
Comparable (comp): A similar company's sale or funding price used as evidence for your valuation.
Cost of goods sold (COGS): What it directly costs to make or deliver what you sell: materials, manufacturing, and direct labor.
Customer acquisition: The process of finding and converting new paying customers.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Total marketing and sales spend ÷ number of new customers gained.
Customer lifetime value (LTV): Total profit one customer generates over the whole relationship.
Data room: An organized collection of financial statements, ownership records, contracts, and other documents for investor review.
Demand evidence: Observable signs customers want the offer, such as paid orders, repeat purchases, or preorders; interest alone is weaker evidence.
Dilution: Your ownership % shrinking when new shares are issued to investors.
Downside: What happens if it fails — how much money is lost and why the risk is acceptable.
Due diligence: The investor's fact-check after your pitch — every claim you made gets verified.
Elevator pitch: Your business explained in 30–60 seconds: problem, solution, traction, ask.
Equity: Ownership percentage of the company you give an investor in exchange for money.
Exit: How investors get their money back: acquisition, buyback, or dividends.
Founder dependency: How much the business relies on the founder's personal work, relationships, or decisions to continue operating.
Full-time commitment: Working on the business as your only job — a strong positive signal to investors.
Gross margin: (Revenue − COGS) ÷ Revenue, as a %. 60% margin means you keep $0.60 of every sales dollar before overhead.
Implied valuation: The valuation your ask implies. $100K for 10% = $1M valuation.
Incumbent: The established company currently winning your customers' money.
Intellectual property (IP) / Patent: Legal rights protecting inventions, designs, brands, or creative work. Utility patents cover function; design patents cover appearance.
Killer instinct test: The question behind the question: "What makes you the one to win this?" — many investors reward preparation over passion alone.
Know your numbers: Heuristic: a common investor expectation is that you should know your revenue, margins, CAC and other core numbers cold. Hesitation can undermine confidence in your command of the business.
Landed cost: The FULL cost to get one unit from the factory into your warehouse or onto a store shelf — manufacturing + freight + customs/duties + receiving. Investors typically check landed cost, not just the factory price.
Letter of intent (LOI): A written signal that a buyer or retailer plans to purchase; usually not a binding purchase commitment.
Licensing: Allowing another business to use your product, brand, or intellectual property in exchange for fees or royalties.
Lifetime value to acquisition cost ratio (LTV:CAC): Lifetime value ÷ acquisition cost. A 3:1 ratio is a common reference point, not a universal target; a ratio below 1:1 suggests acquisition costs exceed lifetime profit.
Moat: What stops a bigger company from copying you and crushing you with their budget.
Month-over-month growth (MoM) / Year-over-year growth (YoY): The percentage change compared with the previous month or the same period a year earlier. Investors want a trend, not one good month.
Monthly burn: How much more cash goes out than comes in each month. Negative cash flow.
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) / Annual recurring revenue (ARR): Predictable subscription income per month or year. ARR = MRR × 12.
Multi-level marketing (MLM): A sales structure where participants may earn from their own sales and from sales made by people they recruit.
Net profit: What's left after ALL expenses — COGS, rent, salaries, marketing, taxes. The bottom line.
Painkiller vs. vitamin: Painkillers solve an urgent, expensive problem; vitamins are nice-to-have. Painkillers sell.
Patent pending: A patent application has been filed but a patent has not yet been granted.
Pipeline: Deals in progress that haven't closed yet — LOIs, purchase orders being negotiated.
Platform: A business that connects participants, such as buyers and sellers, and earns money from access, transactions, or related services.
Pre-money valuation / Post-money valuation: Company value before vs. after the investment. $1M pre-money + $250K invested = $1.25M post-money.
Pre-revenue: You have a product or prototype but no paying customers yet.
Price point: What you charge. Investors typically check it against margins and competitor prices.
Profit and loss statement (P&L): A financial report showing revenue, costs, and the resulting profit or loss over a period.
Provisional patent: A cheaper 12-month placeholder filing — weaker than a granted patent.
Purchase order (PO): A binding order from a customer/retailer. Much stronger proof than an LOI.
Repeat purchase rate: The % of customers who come back and buy again.
Repeatable sales process: A way to win customers that works without the founder personally closing every deal.
Retail vs wholesale price: Retail is the shelf price a consumer pays; wholesale is what a store pays you — usually about half of retail. Investors usually ask for both, so know your numbers at each.
Retention / Churn: Retention = % of customers who stay; churn = % who leave. High churn can be a significant warning sign for subscription businesses because it can undermine customer lifetime value and predictable revenue.
Revenue: Total money customers paid you, before any costs. Also called sales or top line.
Revenue basis: The time period and type of revenue being reported, such as the last twelve months or monthly recurring revenue.
Revenue multiple: Valuation ÷ annual revenue. Asking $2M with $400K revenue = a 5× multiple.
Royalty deal: Investor gets paid per unit sold (e.g. $1 per item) until repaid, instead of (or plus) equity.
Runway: How many months your cash lasts at your current monthly spending. Cash ÷ monthly burn.
Sales evidence: Heuristic, not a universal rule: sales solve many business problems. Without meaningful sales or credible traction, investors have less evidence and confidence that the business works.
Sales velocity: How quickly sales occur, such as units sold per store per week; the relevant measure depends on the business.
Scalability: Revenue can grow much faster than costs — selling 10× more doesn't require 10× the people.
Subscription: An arrangement where customers pay regularly for continued access to a product or service.
Sweat equity: Value built through the founders' unpaid work instead of cash investment.
Target customer: The specific buyer you serve best — "everyone" is a red flag, not a market.
The ask: Exactly what you want from investors: the dollar amount, the equity, and what it funds.
Total addressable market (TAM) / Serviceable available market (SAM) / Serviceable obtainable market (SOM): Everyone who could buy (TAM) → the slice you can reach (SAM) → what you can realistically win (SOM).
Traction: Proof it's working: customers, revenue, growth, retention, signed deals — not just interest.
Trade secret / Proprietary process: Confidential business knowledge or methods that give an advantage. Trade-secret protection depends on keeping that information secret.
Trademark: Legal protection for your brand name and logo.
Trailing twelve-month revenue (TTM / LTM): Revenue from the most recent 12 months added together; this helps smooth out seasonality.
Unit economics: The profit math of ONE sale: price − COGS − CAC. Positive = each customer makes you money.
Use of funds: Exactly what the investment buys (inventory, hires, marketing) and what it unlocks.
Valuation: What you say the whole company is worth. In a pitch: Ask ÷ Equity offered.
Value proposition: The one-sentence reason a customer buys from you instead of doing nothing.
Vice category: A business category such as gambling, tobacco, or alcohol that may face additional regulation or investor restrictions.
Willingness to pay: Evidence customers actually pay your price — preorders and sales beat surveys.

0 / 7 items checked

Investors decide on numbers first. Nothing holds their attention like measurable results.

02 — Valuation & the Ask

Terminology key

Search business terms

All business terms · 81 definitions

Artificial intelligence (AI): Computer systems that perform tasks such as prediction, pattern recognition, or generating content.
Average order value (AOV): The typical dollar amount of one customer order.
Barrier to entry: Anything that makes it hard for competitors to start doing what you do.
Bootstrapped: Funded by the founders and revenue — no outside investors.
Bottom-up market estimate: A market estimate built from reachable buyers × price × how often they purchase, rather than a broad industry headline.
Breakeven: Revenue covers expenses, leaving neither a profit nor a loss for that period.
Business model: How the company reliably makes money: who pays, for what, at what margin, acquired how.
Business-to-business (B2B) / Business-to-consumer (B2C) / Direct-to-consumer (DTC): Who you sell to: businesses (B2B), consumers (B2C), or directly to consumers (DTC) without retail middlemen.
Capital: Money invested in the business. Founder capital comes from you; outside capital comes from other people or organizations.
Capitalization table (cap table): A record of who owns the company, how much each person owns, and rights or agreements that can affect ownership.
Category: The type of product customers compare you against (e.g. meal kits, fitness apps).
Coachability: Willingness to take advice. Many investors pass on brilliant founders who won't listen.
Commodity risk: If anyone can source the same product, the main competition becomes price — investors often walk.
Comparable (comp): A similar company's sale or funding price used as evidence for your valuation.
Cost of goods sold (COGS): What it directly costs to make or deliver what you sell: materials, manufacturing, and direct labor.
Customer acquisition: The process of finding and converting new paying customers.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Total marketing and sales spend ÷ number of new customers gained.
Customer lifetime value (LTV): Total profit one customer generates over the whole relationship.
Data room: An organized collection of financial statements, ownership records, contracts, and other documents for investor review.
Demand evidence: Observable signs customers want the offer, such as paid orders, repeat purchases, or preorders; interest alone is weaker evidence.
Dilution: Your ownership % shrinking when new shares are issued to investors.
Downside: What happens if it fails — how much money is lost and why the risk is acceptable.
Due diligence: The investor's fact-check after your pitch — every claim you made gets verified.
Elevator pitch: Your business explained in 30–60 seconds: problem, solution, traction, ask.
Equity: Ownership percentage of the company you give an investor in exchange for money.
Exit: How investors get their money back: acquisition, buyback, or dividends.
Founder dependency: How much the business relies on the founder's personal work, relationships, or decisions to continue operating.
Full-time commitment: Working on the business as your only job — a strong positive signal to investors.
Gross margin: (Revenue − COGS) ÷ Revenue, as a %. 60% margin means you keep $0.60 of every sales dollar before overhead.
Implied valuation: The valuation your ask implies. $100K for 10% = $1M valuation.
Incumbent: The established company currently winning your customers' money.
Intellectual property (IP) / Patent: Legal rights protecting inventions, designs, brands, or creative work. Utility patents cover function; design patents cover appearance.
Killer instinct test: The question behind the question: "What makes you the one to win this?" — many investors reward preparation over passion alone.
Know your numbers: Heuristic: a common investor expectation is that you should know your revenue, margins, CAC and other core numbers cold. Hesitation can undermine confidence in your command of the business.
Landed cost: The FULL cost to get one unit from the factory into your warehouse or onto a store shelf — manufacturing + freight + customs/duties + receiving. Investors typically check landed cost, not just the factory price.
Letter of intent (LOI): A written signal that a buyer or retailer plans to purchase; usually not a binding purchase commitment.
Licensing: Allowing another business to use your product, brand, or intellectual property in exchange for fees or royalties.
Lifetime value to acquisition cost ratio (LTV:CAC): Lifetime value ÷ acquisition cost. A 3:1 ratio is a common reference point, not a universal target; a ratio below 1:1 suggests acquisition costs exceed lifetime profit.
Moat: What stops a bigger company from copying you and crushing you with their budget.
Month-over-month growth (MoM) / Year-over-year growth (YoY): The percentage change compared with the previous month or the same period a year earlier. Investors want a trend, not one good month.
Monthly burn: How much more cash goes out than comes in each month. Negative cash flow.
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) / Annual recurring revenue (ARR): Predictable subscription income per month or year. ARR = MRR × 12.
Multi-level marketing (MLM): A sales structure where participants may earn from their own sales and from sales made by people they recruit.
Net profit: What's left after ALL expenses — COGS, rent, salaries, marketing, taxes. The bottom line.
Painkiller vs. vitamin: Painkillers solve an urgent, expensive problem; vitamins are nice-to-have. Painkillers sell.
Patent pending: A patent application has been filed but a patent has not yet been granted.
Pipeline: Deals in progress that haven't closed yet — LOIs, purchase orders being negotiated.
Platform: A business that connects participants, such as buyers and sellers, and earns money from access, transactions, or related services.
Pre-money valuation / Post-money valuation: Company value before vs. after the investment. $1M pre-money + $250K invested = $1.25M post-money.
Pre-revenue: You have a product or prototype but no paying customers yet.
Price point: What you charge. Investors typically check it against margins and competitor prices.
Profit and loss statement (P&L): A financial report showing revenue, costs, and the resulting profit or loss over a period.
Provisional patent: A cheaper 12-month placeholder filing — weaker than a granted patent.
Purchase order (PO): A binding order from a customer/retailer. Much stronger proof than an LOI.
Repeat purchase rate: The % of customers who come back and buy again.
Repeatable sales process: A way to win customers that works without the founder personally closing every deal.
Retail vs wholesale price: Retail is the shelf price a consumer pays; wholesale is what a store pays you — usually about half of retail. Investors usually ask for both, so know your numbers at each.
Retention / Churn: Retention = % of customers who stay; churn = % who leave. High churn can be a significant warning sign for subscription businesses because it can undermine customer lifetime value and predictable revenue.
Revenue: Total money customers paid you, before any costs. Also called sales or top line.
Revenue basis: The time period and type of revenue being reported, such as the last twelve months or monthly recurring revenue.
Revenue multiple: Valuation ÷ annual revenue. Asking $2M with $400K revenue = a 5× multiple.
Royalty deal: Investor gets paid per unit sold (e.g. $1 per item) until repaid, instead of (or plus) equity.
Runway: How many months your cash lasts at your current monthly spending. Cash ÷ monthly burn.
Sales evidence: Heuristic, not a universal rule: sales solve many business problems. Without meaningful sales or credible traction, investors have less evidence and confidence that the business works.
Sales velocity: How quickly sales occur, such as units sold per store per week; the relevant measure depends on the business.
Scalability: Revenue can grow much faster than costs — selling 10× more doesn't require 10× the people.
Subscription: An arrangement where customers pay regularly for continued access to a product or service.
Sweat equity: Value built through the founders' unpaid work instead of cash investment.
Target customer: The specific buyer you serve best — "everyone" is a red flag, not a market.
The ask: Exactly what you want from investors: the dollar amount, the equity, and what it funds.
Total addressable market (TAM) / Serviceable available market (SAM) / Serviceable obtainable market (SOM): Everyone who could buy (TAM) → the slice you can reach (SAM) → what you can realistically win (SOM).
Traction: Proof it's working: customers, revenue, growth, retention, signed deals — not just interest.
Trade secret / Proprietary process: Confidential business knowledge or methods that give an advantage. Trade-secret protection depends on keeping that information secret.
Trademark: Legal protection for your brand name and logo.
Trailing twelve-month revenue (TTM / LTM): Revenue from the most recent 12 months added together; this helps smooth out seasonality.
Unit economics: The profit math of ONE sale: price − COGS − CAC. Positive = each customer makes you money.
Use of funds: Exactly what the investment buys (inventory, hires, marketing) and what it unlocks.
Valuation: What you say the whole company is worth. In a pitch: Ask ÷ Equity offered.
Value proposition: The one-sentence reason a customer buys from you instead of doing nothing.
Vice category: A business category such as gambling, tobacco, or alcohol that may face additional regulation or investor restrictions.
Willingness to pay: Evidence customers actually pay your price — preorders and sales beat surveys.

0 / 6 items checked

A poorly supported ask can kill an otherwise promising deal.

03 — Moat & Protectability

Terminology key

Search business terms

All business terms · 81 definitions

Artificial intelligence (AI): Computer systems that perform tasks such as prediction, pattern recognition, or generating content.
Average order value (AOV): The typical dollar amount of one customer order.
Barrier to entry: Anything that makes it hard for competitors to start doing what you do.
Bootstrapped: Funded by the founders and revenue — no outside investors.
Bottom-up market estimate: A market estimate built from reachable buyers × price × how often they purchase, rather than a broad industry headline.
Breakeven: Revenue covers expenses, leaving neither a profit nor a loss for that period.
Business model: How the company reliably makes money: who pays, for what, at what margin, acquired how.
Business-to-business (B2B) / Business-to-consumer (B2C) / Direct-to-consumer (DTC): Who you sell to: businesses (B2B), consumers (B2C), or directly to consumers (DTC) without retail middlemen.
Capital: Money invested in the business. Founder capital comes from you; outside capital comes from other people or organizations.
Capitalization table (cap table): A record of who owns the company, how much each person owns, and rights or agreements that can affect ownership.
Category: The type of product customers compare you against (e.g. meal kits, fitness apps).
Coachability: Willingness to take advice. Many investors pass on brilliant founders who won't listen.
Commodity risk: If anyone can source the same product, the main competition becomes price — investors often walk.
Comparable (comp): A similar company's sale or funding price used as evidence for your valuation.
Cost of goods sold (COGS): What it directly costs to make or deliver what you sell: materials, manufacturing, and direct labor.
Customer acquisition: The process of finding and converting new paying customers.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Total marketing and sales spend ÷ number of new customers gained.
Customer lifetime value (LTV): Total profit one customer generates over the whole relationship.
Data room: An organized collection of financial statements, ownership records, contracts, and other documents for investor review.
Demand evidence: Observable signs customers want the offer, such as paid orders, repeat purchases, or preorders; interest alone is weaker evidence.
Dilution: Your ownership % shrinking when new shares are issued to investors.
Downside: What happens if it fails — how much money is lost and why the risk is acceptable.
Due diligence: The investor's fact-check after your pitch — every claim you made gets verified.
Elevator pitch: Your business explained in 30–60 seconds: problem, solution, traction, ask.
Equity: Ownership percentage of the company you give an investor in exchange for money.
Exit: How investors get their money back: acquisition, buyback, or dividends.
Founder dependency: How much the business relies on the founder's personal work, relationships, or decisions to continue operating.
Full-time commitment: Working on the business as your only job — a strong positive signal to investors.
Gross margin: (Revenue − COGS) ÷ Revenue, as a %. 60% margin means you keep $0.60 of every sales dollar before overhead.
Implied valuation: The valuation your ask implies. $100K for 10% = $1M valuation.
Incumbent: The established company currently winning your customers' money.
Intellectual property (IP) / Patent: Legal rights protecting inventions, designs, brands, or creative work. Utility patents cover function; design patents cover appearance.
Killer instinct test: The question behind the question: "What makes you the one to win this?" — many investors reward preparation over passion alone.
Know your numbers: Heuristic: a common investor expectation is that you should know your revenue, margins, CAC and other core numbers cold. Hesitation can undermine confidence in your command of the business.
Landed cost: The FULL cost to get one unit from the factory into your warehouse or onto a store shelf — manufacturing + freight + customs/duties + receiving. Investors typically check landed cost, not just the factory price.
Letter of intent (LOI): A written signal that a buyer or retailer plans to purchase; usually not a binding purchase commitment.
Licensing: Allowing another business to use your product, brand, or intellectual property in exchange for fees or royalties.
Lifetime value to acquisition cost ratio (LTV:CAC): Lifetime value ÷ acquisition cost. A 3:1 ratio is a common reference point, not a universal target; a ratio below 1:1 suggests acquisition costs exceed lifetime profit.
Moat: What stops a bigger company from copying you and crushing you with their budget.
Month-over-month growth (MoM) / Year-over-year growth (YoY): The percentage change compared with the previous month or the same period a year earlier. Investors want a trend, not one good month.
Monthly burn: How much more cash goes out than comes in each month. Negative cash flow.
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) / Annual recurring revenue (ARR): Predictable subscription income per month or year. ARR = MRR × 12.
Multi-level marketing (MLM): A sales structure where participants may earn from their own sales and from sales made by people they recruit.
Net profit: What's left after ALL expenses — COGS, rent, salaries, marketing, taxes. The bottom line.
Painkiller vs. vitamin: Painkillers solve an urgent, expensive problem; vitamins are nice-to-have. Painkillers sell.
Patent pending: A patent application has been filed but a patent has not yet been granted.
Pipeline: Deals in progress that haven't closed yet — LOIs, purchase orders being negotiated.
Platform: A business that connects participants, such as buyers and sellers, and earns money from access, transactions, or related services.
Pre-money valuation / Post-money valuation: Company value before vs. after the investment. $1M pre-money + $250K invested = $1.25M post-money.
Pre-revenue: You have a product or prototype but no paying customers yet.
Price point: What you charge. Investors typically check it against margins and competitor prices.
Profit and loss statement (P&L): A financial report showing revenue, costs, and the resulting profit or loss over a period.
Provisional patent: A cheaper 12-month placeholder filing — weaker than a granted patent.
Purchase order (PO): A binding order from a customer/retailer. Much stronger proof than an LOI.
Repeat purchase rate: The % of customers who come back and buy again.
Repeatable sales process: A way to win customers that works without the founder personally closing every deal.
Retail vs wholesale price: Retail is the shelf price a consumer pays; wholesale is what a store pays you — usually about half of retail. Investors usually ask for both, so know your numbers at each.
Retention / Churn: Retention = % of customers who stay; churn = % who leave. High churn can be a significant warning sign for subscription businesses because it can undermine customer lifetime value and predictable revenue.
Revenue: Total money customers paid you, before any costs. Also called sales or top line.
Revenue basis: The time period and type of revenue being reported, such as the last twelve months or monthly recurring revenue.
Revenue multiple: Valuation ÷ annual revenue. Asking $2M with $400K revenue = a 5× multiple.
Royalty deal: Investor gets paid per unit sold (e.g. $1 per item) until repaid, instead of (or plus) equity.
Runway: How many months your cash lasts at your current monthly spending. Cash ÷ monthly burn.
Sales evidence: Heuristic, not a universal rule: sales solve many business problems. Without meaningful sales or credible traction, investors have less evidence and confidence that the business works.
Sales velocity: How quickly sales occur, such as units sold per store per week; the relevant measure depends on the business.
Scalability: Revenue can grow much faster than costs — selling 10× more doesn't require 10× the people.
Subscription: An arrangement where customers pay regularly for continued access to a product or service.
Sweat equity: Value built through the founders' unpaid work instead of cash investment.
Target customer: The specific buyer you serve best — "everyone" is a red flag, not a market.
The ask: Exactly what you want from investors: the dollar amount, the equity, and what it funds.
Total addressable market (TAM) / Serviceable available market (SAM) / Serviceable obtainable market (SOM): Everyone who could buy (TAM) → the slice you can reach (SAM) → what you can realistically win (SOM).
Traction: Proof it's working: customers, revenue, growth, retention, signed deals — not just interest.
Trade secret / Proprietary process: Confidential business knowledge or methods that give an advantage. Trade-secret protection depends on keeping that information secret.
Trademark: Legal protection for your brand name and logo.
Trailing twelve-month revenue (TTM / LTM): Revenue from the most recent 12 months added together; this helps smooth out seasonality.
Unit economics: The profit math of ONE sale: price − COGS − CAC. Positive = each customer makes you money.
Use of funds: Exactly what the investment buys (inventory, hires, marketing) and what it unlocks.
Valuation: What you say the whole company is worth. In a pitch: Ask ÷ Equity offered.
Value proposition: The one-sentence reason a customer buys from you instead of doing nothing.
Vice category: A business category such as gambling, tobacco, or alcohol that may face additional regulation or investor restrictions.
Willingness to pay: Evidence customers actually pay your price — preorders and sales beat surveys.

0 / 5 items checked

The four-part reality check: core competency, why you're great, protectable, scalable.

04 — The Founder Test

Terminology key

Search business terms

All business terms · 81 definitions

Artificial intelligence (AI): Computer systems that perform tasks such as prediction, pattern recognition, or generating content.
Average order value (AOV): The typical dollar amount of one customer order.
Barrier to entry: Anything that makes it hard for competitors to start doing what you do.
Bootstrapped: Funded by the founders and revenue — no outside investors.
Bottom-up market estimate: A market estimate built from reachable buyers × price × how often they purchase, rather than a broad industry headline.
Breakeven: Revenue covers expenses, leaving neither a profit nor a loss for that period.
Business model: How the company reliably makes money: who pays, for what, at what margin, acquired how.
Business-to-business (B2B) / Business-to-consumer (B2C) / Direct-to-consumer (DTC): Who you sell to: businesses (B2B), consumers (B2C), or directly to consumers (DTC) without retail middlemen.
Capital: Money invested in the business. Founder capital comes from you; outside capital comes from other people or organizations.
Capitalization table (cap table): A record of who owns the company, how much each person owns, and rights or agreements that can affect ownership.
Category: The type of product customers compare you against (e.g. meal kits, fitness apps).
Coachability: Willingness to take advice. Many investors pass on brilliant founders who won't listen.
Commodity risk: If anyone can source the same product, the main competition becomes price — investors often walk.
Comparable (comp): A similar company's sale or funding price used as evidence for your valuation.
Cost of goods sold (COGS): What it directly costs to make or deliver what you sell: materials, manufacturing, and direct labor.
Customer acquisition: The process of finding and converting new paying customers.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Total marketing and sales spend ÷ number of new customers gained.
Customer lifetime value (LTV): Total profit one customer generates over the whole relationship.
Data room: An organized collection of financial statements, ownership records, contracts, and other documents for investor review.
Demand evidence: Observable signs customers want the offer, such as paid orders, repeat purchases, or preorders; interest alone is weaker evidence.
Dilution: Your ownership % shrinking when new shares are issued to investors.
Downside: What happens if it fails — how much money is lost and why the risk is acceptable.
Due diligence: The investor's fact-check after your pitch — every claim you made gets verified.
Elevator pitch: Your business explained in 30–60 seconds: problem, solution, traction, ask.
Equity: Ownership percentage of the company you give an investor in exchange for money.
Exit: How investors get their money back: acquisition, buyback, or dividends.
Founder dependency: How much the business relies on the founder's personal work, relationships, or decisions to continue operating.
Full-time commitment: Working on the business as your only job — a strong positive signal to investors.
Gross margin: (Revenue − COGS) ÷ Revenue, as a %. 60% margin means you keep $0.60 of every sales dollar before overhead.
Implied valuation: The valuation your ask implies. $100K for 10% = $1M valuation.
Incumbent: The established company currently winning your customers' money.
Intellectual property (IP) / Patent: Legal rights protecting inventions, designs, brands, or creative work. Utility patents cover function; design patents cover appearance.
Killer instinct test: The question behind the question: "What makes you the one to win this?" — many investors reward preparation over passion alone.
Know your numbers: Heuristic: a common investor expectation is that you should know your revenue, margins, CAC and other core numbers cold. Hesitation can undermine confidence in your command of the business.
Landed cost: The FULL cost to get one unit from the factory into your warehouse or onto a store shelf — manufacturing + freight + customs/duties + receiving. Investors typically check landed cost, not just the factory price.
Letter of intent (LOI): A written signal that a buyer or retailer plans to purchase; usually not a binding purchase commitment.
Licensing: Allowing another business to use your product, brand, or intellectual property in exchange for fees or royalties.
Lifetime value to acquisition cost ratio (LTV:CAC): Lifetime value ÷ acquisition cost. A 3:1 ratio is a common reference point, not a universal target; a ratio below 1:1 suggests acquisition costs exceed lifetime profit.
Moat: What stops a bigger company from copying you and crushing you with their budget.
Month-over-month growth (MoM) / Year-over-year growth (YoY): The percentage change compared with the previous month or the same period a year earlier. Investors want a trend, not one good month.
Monthly burn: How much more cash goes out than comes in each month. Negative cash flow.
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) / Annual recurring revenue (ARR): Predictable subscription income per month or year. ARR = MRR × 12.
Multi-level marketing (MLM): A sales structure where participants may earn from their own sales and from sales made by people they recruit.
Net profit: What's left after ALL expenses — COGS, rent, salaries, marketing, taxes. The bottom line.
Painkiller vs. vitamin: Painkillers solve an urgent, expensive problem; vitamins are nice-to-have. Painkillers sell.
Patent pending: A patent application has been filed but a patent has not yet been granted.
Pipeline: Deals in progress that haven't closed yet — LOIs, purchase orders being negotiated.
Platform: A business that connects participants, such as buyers and sellers, and earns money from access, transactions, or related services.
Pre-money valuation / Post-money valuation: Company value before vs. after the investment. $1M pre-money + $250K invested = $1.25M post-money.
Pre-revenue: You have a product or prototype but no paying customers yet.
Price point: What you charge. Investors typically check it against margins and competitor prices.
Profit and loss statement (P&L): A financial report showing revenue, costs, and the resulting profit or loss over a period.
Provisional patent: A cheaper 12-month placeholder filing — weaker than a granted patent.
Purchase order (PO): A binding order from a customer/retailer. Much stronger proof than an LOI.
Repeat purchase rate: The % of customers who come back and buy again.
Repeatable sales process: A way to win customers that works without the founder personally closing every deal.
Retail vs wholesale price: Retail is the shelf price a consumer pays; wholesale is what a store pays you — usually about half of retail. Investors usually ask for both, so know your numbers at each.
Retention / Churn: Retention = % of customers who stay; churn = % who leave. High churn can be a significant warning sign for subscription businesses because it can undermine customer lifetime value and predictable revenue.
Revenue: Total money customers paid you, before any costs. Also called sales or top line.
Revenue basis: The time period and type of revenue being reported, such as the last twelve months or monthly recurring revenue.
Revenue multiple: Valuation ÷ annual revenue. Asking $2M with $400K revenue = a 5× multiple.
Royalty deal: Investor gets paid per unit sold (e.g. $1 per item) until repaid, instead of (or plus) equity.
Runway: How many months your cash lasts at your current monthly spending. Cash ÷ monthly burn.
Sales evidence: Heuristic, not a universal rule: sales solve many business problems. Without meaningful sales or credible traction, investors have less evidence and confidence that the business works.
Sales velocity: How quickly sales occur, such as units sold per store per week; the relevant measure depends on the business.
Scalability: Revenue can grow much faster than costs — selling 10× more doesn't require 10× the people.
Subscription: An arrangement where customers pay regularly for continued access to a product or service.
Sweat equity: Value built through the founders' unpaid work instead of cash investment.
Target customer: The specific buyer you serve best — "everyone" is a red flag, not a market.
The ask: Exactly what you want from investors: the dollar amount, the equity, and what it funds.
Total addressable market (TAM) / Serviceable available market (SAM) / Serviceable obtainable market (SOM): Everyone who could buy (TAM) → the slice you can reach (SAM) → what you can realistically win (SOM).
Traction: Proof it's working: customers, revenue, growth, retention, signed deals — not just interest.
Trade secret / Proprietary process: Confidential business knowledge or methods that give an advantage. Trade-secret protection depends on keeping that information secret.
Trademark: Legal protection for your brand name and logo.
Trailing twelve-month revenue (TTM / LTM): Revenue from the most recent 12 months added together; this helps smooth out seasonality.
Unit economics: The profit math of ONE sale: price − COGS − CAC. Positive = each customer makes you money.
Use of funds: Exactly what the investment buys (inventory, hires, marketing) and what it unlocks.
Valuation: What you say the whole company is worth. In a pitch: Ask ÷ Equity offered.
Value proposition: The one-sentence reason a customer buys from you instead of doing nothing.
Vice category: A business category such as gambling, tobacco, or alcohol that may face additional regulation or investor restrictions.
Willingness to pay: Evidence customers actually pay your price — preorders and sales beat surveys.

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Investors often invest in the person when the numbers are close.

05 — The Investor Reality Check

Terminology key

Search business terms

All business terms · 81 definitions

Artificial intelligence (AI): Computer systems that perform tasks such as prediction, pattern recognition, or generating content.
Average order value (AOV): The typical dollar amount of one customer order.
Barrier to entry: Anything that makes it hard for competitors to start doing what you do.
Bootstrapped: Funded by the founders and revenue — no outside investors.
Bottom-up market estimate: A market estimate built from reachable buyers × price × how often they purchase, rather than a broad industry headline.
Breakeven: Revenue covers expenses, leaving neither a profit nor a loss for that period.
Business model: How the company reliably makes money: who pays, for what, at what margin, acquired how.
Business-to-business (B2B) / Business-to-consumer (B2C) / Direct-to-consumer (DTC): Who you sell to: businesses (B2B), consumers (B2C), or directly to consumers (DTC) without retail middlemen.
Capital: Money invested in the business. Founder capital comes from you; outside capital comes from other people or organizations.
Capitalization table (cap table): A record of who owns the company, how much each person owns, and rights or agreements that can affect ownership.
Category: The type of product customers compare you against (e.g. meal kits, fitness apps).
Coachability: Willingness to take advice. Many investors pass on brilliant founders who won't listen.
Commodity risk: If anyone can source the same product, the main competition becomes price — investors often walk.
Comparable (comp): A similar company's sale or funding price used as evidence for your valuation.
Cost of goods sold (COGS): What it directly costs to make or deliver what you sell: materials, manufacturing, and direct labor.
Customer acquisition: The process of finding and converting new paying customers.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Total marketing and sales spend ÷ number of new customers gained.
Customer lifetime value (LTV): Total profit one customer generates over the whole relationship.
Data room: An organized collection of financial statements, ownership records, contracts, and other documents for investor review.
Demand evidence: Observable signs customers want the offer, such as paid orders, repeat purchases, or preorders; interest alone is weaker evidence.
Dilution: Your ownership % shrinking when new shares are issued to investors.
Downside: What happens if it fails — how much money is lost and why the risk is acceptable.
Due diligence: The investor's fact-check after your pitch — every claim you made gets verified.
Elevator pitch: Your business explained in 30–60 seconds: problem, solution, traction, ask.
Equity: Ownership percentage of the company you give an investor in exchange for money.
Exit: How investors get their money back: acquisition, buyback, or dividends.
Founder dependency: How much the business relies on the founder's personal work, relationships, or decisions to continue operating.
Full-time commitment: Working on the business as your only job — a strong positive signal to investors.
Gross margin: (Revenue − COGS) ÷ Revenue, as a %. 60% margin means you keep $0.60 of every sales dollar before overhead.
Implied valuation: The valuation your ask implies. $100K for 10% = $1M valuation.
Incumbent: The established company currently winning your customers' money.
Intellectual property (IP) / Patent: Legal rights protecting inventions, designs, brands, or creative work. Utility patents cover function; design patents cover appearance.
Killer instinct test: The question behind the question: "What makes you the one to win this?" — many investors reward preparation over passion alone.
Know your numbers: Heuristic: a common investor expectation is that you should know your revenue, margins, CAC and other core numbers cold. Hesitation can undermine confidence in your command of the business.
Landed cost: The FULL cost to get one unit from the factory into your warehouse or onto a store shelf — manufacturing + freight + customs/duties + receiving. Investors typically check landed cost, not just the factory price.
Letter of intent (LOI): A written signal that a buyer or retailer plans to purchase; usually not a binding purchase commitment.
Licensing: Allowing another business to use your product, brand, or intellectual property in exchange for fees or royalties.
Lifetime value to acquisition cost ratio (LTV:CAC): Lifetime value ÷ acquisition cost. A 3:1 ratio is a common reference point, not a universal target; a ratio below 1:1 suggests acquisition costs exceed lifetime profit.
Moat: What stops a bigger company from copying you and crushing you with their budget.
Month-over-month growth (MoM) / Year-over-year growth (YoY): The percentage change compared with the previous month or the same period a year earlier. Investors want a trend, not one good month.
Monthly burn: How much more cash goes out than comes in each month. Negative cash flow.
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) / Annual recurring revenue (ARR): Predictable subscription income per month or year. ARR = MRR × 12.
Multi-level marketing (MLM): A sales structure where participants may earn from their own sales and from sales made by people they recruit.
Net profit: What's left after ALL expenses — COGS, rent, salaries, marketing, taxes. The bottom line.
Painkiller vs. vitamin: Painkillers solve an urgent, expensive problem; vitamins are nice-to-have. Painkillers sell.
Patent pending: A patent application has been filed but a patent has not yet been granted.
Pipeline: Deals in progress that haven't closed yet — LOIs, purchase orders being negotiated.
Platform: A business that connects participants, such as buyers and sellers, and earns money from access, transactions, or related services.
Pre-money valuation / Post-money valuation: Company value before vs. after the investment. $1M pre-money + $250K invested = $1.25M post-money.
Pre-revenue: You have a product or prototype but no paying customers yet.
Price point: What you charge. Investors typically check it against margins and competitor prices.
Profit and loss statement (P&L): A financial report showing revenue, costs, and the resulting profit or loss over a period.
Provisional patent: A cheaper 12-month placeholder filing — weaker than a granted patent.
Purchase order (PO): A binding order from a customer/retailer. Much stronger proof than an LOI.
Repeat purchase rate: The % of customers who come back and buy again.
Repeatable sales process: A way to win customers that works without the founder personally closing every deal.
Retail vs wholesale price: Retail is the shelf price a consumer pays; wholesale is what a store pays you — usually about half of retail. Investors usually ask for both, so know your numbers at each.
Retention / Churn: Retention = % of customers who stay; churn = % who leave. High churn can be a significant warning sign for subscription businesses because it can undermine customer lifetime value and predictable revenue.
Revenue: Total money customers paid you, before any costs. Also called sales or top line.
Revenue basis: The time period and type of revenue being reported, such as the last twelve months or monthly recurring revenue.
Revenue multiple: Valuation ÷ annual revenue. Asking $2M with $400K revenue = a 5× multiple.
Royalty deal: Investor gets paid per unit sold (e.g. $1 per item) until repaid, instead of (or plus) equity.
Runway: How many months your cash lasts at your current monthly spending. Cash ÷ monthly burn.
Sales evidence: Heuristic, not a universal rule: sales solve many business problems. Without meaningful sales or credible traction, investors have less evidence and confidence that the business works.
Sales velocity: How quickly sales occur, such as units sold per store per week; the relevant measure depends on the business.
Scalability: Revenue can grow much faster than costs — selling 10× more doesn't require 10× the people.
Subscription: An arrangement where customers pay regularly for continued access to a product or service.
Sweat equity: Value built through the founders' unpaid work instead of cash investment.
Target customer: The specific buyer you serve best — "everyone" is a red flag, not a market.
The ask: Exactly what you want from investors: the dollar amount, the equity, and what it funds.
Total addressable market (TAM) / Serviceable available market (SAM) / Serviceable obtainable market (SOM): Everyone who could buy (TAM) → the slice you can reach (SAM) → what you can realistically win (SOM).
Traction: Proof it's working: customers, revenue, growth, retention, signed deals — not just interest.
Trade secret / Proprietary process: Confidential business knowledge or methods that give an advantage. Trade-secret protection depends on keeping that information secret.
Trademark: Legal protection for your brand name and logo.
Trailing twelve-month revenue (TTM / LTM): Revenue from the most recent 12 months added together; this helps smooth out seasonality.
Unit economics: The profit math of ONE sale: price − COGS − CAC. Positive = each customer makes you money.
Use of funds: Exactly what the investment buys (inventory, hires, marketing) and what it unlocks.
Valuation: What you say the whole company is worth. In a pitch: Ask ÷ Equity offered.
Value proposition: The one-sentence reason a customer buys from you instead of doing nothing.
Vice category: A business category such as gambling, tobacco, or alcohol that may face additional regulation or investor restrictions.
Willingness to pay: Evidence customers actually pay your price — preorders and sales beat surveys.

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Inspired by principles Mark Cuban has discussed publicly — what makes an investor lean in, and what makes them go out early.

06 — Pitch Mechanics

Terminology key

Search business terms

All business terms · 81 definitions

Artificial intelligence (AI): Computer systems that perform tasks such as prediction, pattern recognition, or generating content.
Average order value (AOV): The typical dollar amount of one customer order.
Barrier to entry: Anything that makes it hard for competitors to start doing what you do.
Bootstrapped: Funded by the founders and revenue — no outside investors.
Bottom-up market estimate: A market estimate built from reachable buyers × price × how often they purchase, rather than a broad industry headline.
Breakeven: Revenue covers expenses, leaving neither a profit nor a loss for that period.
Business model: How the company reliably makes money: who pays, for what, at what margin, acquired how.
Business-to-business (B2B) / Business-to-consumer (B2C) / Direct-to-consumer (DTC): Who you sell to: businesses (B2B), consumers (B2C), or directly to consumers (DTC) without retail middlemen.
Capital: Money invested in the business. Founder capital comes from you; outside capital comes from other people or organizations.
Capitalization table (cap table): A record of who owns the company, how much each person owns, and rights or agreements that can affect ownership.
Category: The type of product customers compare you against (e.g. meal kits, fitness apps).
Coachability: Willingness to take advice. Many investors pass on brilliant founders who won't listen.
Commodity risk: If anyone can source the same product, the main competition becomes price — investors often walk.
Comparable (comp): A similar company's sale or funding price used as evidence for your valuation.
Cost of goods sold (COGS): What it directly costs to make or deliver what you sell: materials, manufacturing, and direct labor.
Customer acquisition: The process of finding and converting new paying customers.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Total marketing and sales spend ÷ number of new customers gained.
Customer lifetime value (LTV): Total profit one customer generates over the whole relationship.
Data room: An organized collection of financial statements, ownership records, contracts, and other documents for investor review.
Demand evidence: Observable signs customers want the offer, such as paid orders, repeat purchases, or preorders; interest alone is weaker evidence.
Dilution: Your ownership % shrinking when new shares are issued to investors.
Downside: What happens if it fails — how much money is lost and why the risk is acceptable.
Due diligence: The investor's fact-check after your pitch — every claim you made gets verified.
Elevator pitch: Your business explained in 30–60 seconds: problem, solution, traction, ask.
Equity: Ownership percentage of the company you give an investor in exchange for money.
Exit: How investors get their money back: acquisition, buyback, or dividends.
Founder dependency: How much the business relies on the founder's personal work, relationships, or decisions to continue operating.
Full-time commitment: Working on the business as your only job — a strong positive signal to investors.
Gross margin: (Revenue − COGS) ÷ Revenue, as a %. 60% margin means you keep $0.60 of every sales dollar before overhead.
Implied valuation: The valuation your ask implies. $100K for 10% = $1M valuation.
Incumbent: The established company currently winning your customers' money.
Intellectual property (IP) / Patent: Legal rights protecting inventions, designs, brands, or creative work. Utility patents cover function; design patents cover appearance.
Killer instinct test: The question behind the question: "What makes you the one to win this?" — many investors reward preparation over passion alone.
Know your numbers: Heuristic: a common investor expectation is that you should know your revenue, margins, CAC and other core numbers cold. Hesitation can undermine confidence in your command of the business.
Landed cost: The FULL cost to get one unit from the factory into your warehouse or onto a store shelf — manufacturing + freight + customs/duties + receiving. Investors typically check landed cost, not just the factory price.
Letter of intent (LOI): A written signal that a buyer or retailer plans to purchase; usually not a binding purchase commitment.
Licensing: Allowing another business to use your product, brand, or intellectual property in exchange for fees or royalties.
Lifetime value to acquisition cost ratio (LTV:CAC): Lifetime value ÷ acquisition cost. A 3:1 ratio is a common reference point, not a universal target; a ratio below 1:1 suggests acquisition costs exceed lifetime profit.
Moat: What stops a bigger company from copying you and crushing you with their budget.
Month-over-month growth (MoM) / Year-over-year growth (YoY): The percentage change compared with the previous month or the same period a year earlier. Investors want a trend, not one good month.
Monthly burn: How much more cash goes out than comes in each month. Negative cash flow.
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) / Annual recurring revenue (ARR): Predictable subscription income per month or year. ARR = MRR × 12.
Multi-level marketing (MLM): A sales structure where participants may earn from their own sales and from sales made by people they recruit.
Net profit: What's left after ALL expenses — COGS, rent, salaries, marketing, taxes. The bottom line.
Painkiller vs. vitamin: Painkillers solve an urgent, expensive problem; vitamins are nice-to-have. Painkillers sell.
Patent pending: A patent application has been filed but a patent has not yet been granted.
Pipeline: Deals in progress that haven't closed yet — LOIs, purchase orders being negotiated.
Platform: A business that connects participants, such as buyers and sellers, and earns money from access, transactions, or related services.
Pre-money valuation / Post-money valuation: Company value before vs. after the investment. $1M pre-money + $250K invested = $1.25M post-money.
Pre-revenue: You have a product or prototype but no paying customers yet.
Price point: What you charge. Investors typically check it against margins and competitor prices.
Profit and loss statement (P&L): A financial report showing revenue, costs, and the resulting profit or loss over a period.
Provisional patent: A cheaper 12-month placeholder filing — weaker than a granted patent.
Purchase order (PO): A binding order from a customer/retailer. Much stronger proof than an LOI.
Repeat purchase rate: The % of customers who come back and buy again.
Repeatable sales process: A way to win customers that works without the founder personally closing every deal.
Retail vs wholesale price: Retail is the shelf price a consumer pays; wholesale is what a store pays you — usually about half of retail. Investors usually ask for both, so know your numbers at each.
Retention / Churn: Retention = % of customers who stay; churn = % who leave. High churn can be a significant warning sign for subscription businesses because it can undermine customer lifetime value and predictable revenue.
Revenue: Total money customers paid you, before any costs. Also called sales or top line.
Revenue basis: The time period and type of revenue being reported, such as the last twelve months or monthly recurring revenue.
Revenue multiple: Valuation ÷ annual revenue. Asking $2M with $400K revenue = a 5× multiple.
Royalty deal: Investor gets paid per unit sold (e.g. $1 per item) until repaid, instead of (or plus) equity.
Runway: How many months your cash lasts at your current monthly spending. Cash ÷ monthly burn.
Sales evidence: Heuristic, not a universal rule: sales solve many business problems. Without meaningful sales or credible traction, investors have less evidence and confidence that the business works.
Sales velocity: How quickly sales occur, such as units sold per store per week; the relevant measure depends on the business.
Scalability: Revenue can grow much faster than costs — selling 10× more doesn't require 10× the people.
Subscription: An arrangement where customers pay regularly for continued access to a product or service.
Sweat equity: Value built through the founders' unpaid work instead of cash investment.
Target customer: The specific buyer you serve best — "everyone" is a red flag, not a market.
The ask: Exactly what you want from investors: the dollar amount, the equity, and what it funds.
Total addressable market (TAM) / Serviceable available market (SAM) / Serviceable obtainable market (SOM): Everyone who could buy (TAM) → the slice you can reach (SAM) → what you can realistically win (SOM).
Traction: Proof it's working: customers, revenue, growth, retention, signed deals — not just interest.
Trade secret / Proprietary process: Confidential business knowledge or methods that give an advantage. Trade-secret protection depends on keeping that information secret.
Trademark: Legal protection for your brand name and logo.
Trailing twelve-month revenue (TTM / LTM): Revenue from the most recent 12 months added together; this helps smooth out seasonality.
Unit economics: The profit math of ONE sale: price − COGS − CAC. Positive = each customer makes you money.
Use of funds: Exactly what the investment buys (inventory, hires, marketing) and what it unlocks.
Valuation: What you say the whole company is worth. In a pitch: Ask ÷ Equity offered.
Value proposition: The one-sentence reason a customer buys from you instead of doing nothing.
Vice category: A business category such as gambling, tobacco, or alcohol that may face additional regulation or investor restrictions.
Willingness to pay: Evidence customers actually pay your price — preorders and sales beat surveys.

0 / 5 items checked

The first 90 seconds decide whether anyone leans in.

Instant Red Flags

Any one of these can end the pitch before the numbers matter.

Can't recite margins or CAC without notes
Valuation built on a hoped-for future year
Founder still working a day job
Idea-only, licensing-only, or no sales at all
Crowded commodity category with no moat
Business depends entirely on the founder's hands
Silent partners or absent co-founders on the cap table
Regulatory or health claims with no substantiation
Arguing with an investor instead of answering
Asking for a check but not for the investor's work

The Four-Part Reality Check

Every strong pitch should answer these four in order, in plain language.

01
Core competency
What is this company world-class at doing?
02
Why you
Why are you the person who wins this market?
03
Protectable
What keeps a copycat from erasing you?
04
Scalable
How does it grow without your hands on every unit?

Pitch readiness

0/100

Don't pitch

Too early. Build proof before you spend the shot.

Secondary next step: the official casting site

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