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What are the questions by investors specifically directed to technical co-founders?

A lot is written about questions investors ask during pitches, but most of those are mainly geared towards (so-called) business cofounders.

I am on the “technical side” responsible for things like developing the technology, algorithms, mathematical models, data analysis.

I am still attending our pitches together with my business co-founders and I wonder -

What kind of questions towards my technical role should I prepare for?

Answer 4030

Investors are mostly businessmen and they are interested in the business side first. Usually they go over the technical aspects during the due diligence phase which is after they have already seen the business plan, heard the pitch and bought into it. Some may not go over the technical aspects at all because they simply do not understand it, and instead they feel out the founding team to gauge out competency, honesty and if they can trust you.

If you are the technical guy, you can expect some questions on

  1. past similar scale projects
  2. intellectual property such as patentable works in the product
  3. patents you may hold
  4. delivery schedule for the project
  5. development plan, production plan, maintenance plan
  6. If there is a prototype or a product they have seen, you may expect questions on why a particular thing was chosen over another
  7. questions like what does that doohickey do and do you really need to spend $x on it.
  8. production and development budget
  9. contingency planning you have done

If your investor is a large vc firm, you may have more technical questions and they may ask how you specifically solved a particular problem that limited the competitors or about the technical competitive advantages your product has.

Somethings to keep in mind are

  1. Watch how much you give out. If you haven’t got IP protection or an NDA you don’t want to give intricate details to everybody who asks. Figure out how to explain without going into details that involve unique advantages.

  2. Learn how to explain technical terms to non technical people. This is a very good skill to have if you are tech guy. Non technical investors like this quality as well. The skill is similar to what recruiters look for when they ask you questions like “how would you explain what a modem/router does to an eight year old?”

  3. Don’t pull a Dilbert. Know how to fit in with the suits and talk the talk. Your goal is to appear trustworthy, so be honest, speak slowly, explain clearly and competently. Brush up on some business terminology.
  4. One of the concerns investors have about founding teams is what happens if the team splits. As you can expect, if you are only guy who knows how the product works or is made, and you split for whatever reason, the chances for the startup succeeding drastically goes down. This is partly why investors insist on a vesting schedule for founders these days. Be prepared to answer questions on this topic.

Answer 11036

Point Nine Capital, a Berlin VC, created a very useful tech due diligence framework. Check out their post, there’s also a Tech-Due-Diligence-Calculator:

https://medium.com/point-nine-news/a-technical-due-diligence-framework-for-early-stage-startups-c24d5408256e#.bdclzvpn5

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