I.

Product

● Simple description of the product and the problem : It’s very important for us to see that
founders can explain quickly what problem their product solves and for whom (positioning). We
are usually not expert in the industry they tackle so the simpler and shorter, the better.
● Core features : We don’t need an exhaustive list of the features, just the ones which are core
to the product and make it special eg. ‘’online payment’’ would not be very relevant in our case.
● Product roadmap : We like to see that founders have a good vision of what their product will
be in the next 6/18 months.
● Product overview : We love to try the product ourselves and, if not possible, get a live demo,
a video or some screenshots.

II. Market

● Description of target market : When founders describe their target market the more precise
they are, the better. If they did not figure out what’s their precise target market yet that’s ok. But
we want to see at least some potential segments and not some general statements such as ‘’all
SMBs in Europe ‘’ because it gives us the feeling that founders did not research the market
well enough.
● Total Addressable Market (TAM) estimate (bottom up and top down) : This is where we
check if the size of the opportunity is big enough. We always double check the market size
ourselves so we will not be fooled by some random numbers. We also often ask the sources of
the numbers provided by founders.
● Market structure and dynamics : It’s important for us to understand the big current trends of
the market and how it will evolve in the next few years. Any additional relevant information on
the market is always welcome (in appendix of the deck or additional reports sent by email after
the first call).

III. Competition

● List of incumbents : We always try to identify who the big players are.
● Strengths and weaknesses vs. competitors : We want to know who the startup is competing
with : positioning chart and competitive profile matrix are a “must have” in the deck. A
statement like ‘’we do not have competitors’’ is usually not a great sign as it gives us the
impression that the founders probably don’t understand their market well enough.
● Long-term competitive advantage : It’s totally fine to have competitors (many successful
startups had plenty of competition at the time they started i.e. Booking.com) but we need to
figure out how the startup can build defensible assets in the long run (complex tech, network
effect etc.).

IV. Traction

● KPI sheet with month-over-month numbers from launch to present

○ Marketplace : GMV, net revenue, average basket size, margins + any other relevant
activity metric.
○ SaaS : MRR, number of customers + any other relevant activity metric (here’s a KPI
dashboard for early-stage SaaS startups ).
 ● Cohort analysis : a cohort analysis is super important for us to have a good grasp of the
product’s usage and retention ( see our template and guide on that topic).
● Sales pipeline (number and size of opportunities per pipeline stage, total pipeline value
per stage, probability-adjusted pipeline value) : the pipeline is very useful for us to get some
confidence about the future growth.

V. Acquisition

● Current acquisition channels and costs : We want to know what the startup has done to
acquire customers so far and at what cost (SEO, paid search, direct sales, partnerships,
content marketing, events, etc.).
● Plan in terms of sales & marketing : It can be easy to get some quick early traction without
any sales and marketing effort as the startup is picking the low hanging fruits, made some good
noise at launch or some other happy circumstances. However, what happens at very early
stage doesn’t necessarily indicates what will happen at bigger scale. Therefore, we also want
to understand what is the plan in terms of sales and marketing for the next months.

VI. Business model

● Pricing : We want to know what is the current pricing and how it compares to similar products.

VII. Team

● Founders’ strengths, weaknesses : This is something we evaluate during our interactions

with the team (calls, emails, meetings) but also looking at the background of founders and by
getting some references from previous experiences / common acquaintances. As a reminder,
we are looking for animals.
● Quality of first hires
● Result of tech due diligence : Rodrigo (our geek at Point Nine) usually evaluates the tech
stack in more details following this framework.

VIII. Funding/ Deal

● Round size / timing

● Runway : How much cash is left in the bank and how much time it will last.
● Milestones that will be achieved with the investment : What does the startup want to do
with the additional investment it’s raising.
● Funding up to date : Who invested, when and how much.

IX. Reference calls

● Customers : We always try to have quick 15min calls with some of the current customers as
they are the best positioned to evaluate the product.
● Industry Expert references : As we are not expert in every industry we try to get insights from
industry experts.