Questions Going into the Pitch

What this video adds

Kate Mitchell explains a few questions she brings to an entrepreneur's pitch, including the size of the opportunity and whether the idea can support a company rather than a product or feature. This short clip comes from her May 1, 2013 Stanford talk. The investment volumes mentioned describe her firm's experience at that time.

The preparation exercises below are original PitchPolar material. They help you assemble answers and evidence; they are not a claim that every investor applies the same criteria.

01 Answer the question beneath the question

For each likely investor question, write the uncertainty it may be testing. A question about customer count could concern market size, sales concentration or the reliability of your data. Ask a brief clarifying question if the intent is unclear.

Prepare a direct answer first, followed by evidence and the relevant limitation. Avoid beginning with a long explanation that leaves the original question unanswered.

02 Explain why this can be a business

Choose the customer problem your product solves. Describe who pays, why the need recurs and how the customer obtains the result today. Then examine what remains if a larger platform adds a similar capability.

Original exercise: imagine a meeting-summary tool sold to small legal practices. Consider the buyer's workflow, confidentiality requirements and switching costs. List what you have actually validated. A feature comparison alone does not establish a durable business.

03 Prepare a defensible opportunity answer

Keep the market definition, customer-count source and pricing assumption in one place. Explain the segment you can serve first and why it is a sensible starting point.

If your evidence supports a narrower market than your slide implies, revise the slide. An honest unresolved question gives you a research task; an inflated estimate makes the rest of the discussion harder to assess.

04 Run a short question drill

Ask a colleague to interrupt your pitch with three questions. Give each answer in under a minute, then let them identify what remained unclear. Record missing facts separately from delivery problems.

After the real meeting, update your question list. Repeated questions may reveal a missing definition in the deck or a business assumption that needs more evidence.

Original source

Watch the official clip. Stanford lists it within Own Your Own Success and provides an original transcript.