When someone challenges your business strategy, your first instinct is usually to:
A) Defend my position. I've thought this through more than they have.
B) Listen, but I usually stick with my original plan.
C) Consider their point, then evaluate whether it changes anything.
D) Actively seek out the strongest argument against my current approach.
Think about the last major business decision you made (pricing change, new hire, big spend). How did you make it?
A) Gut feeling. I've been doing this long enough to know.
B) I gathered some data, but mostly went with what felt right.
C) I set criteria ahead of time and evaluated a couple of options against them.
D) I generated multiple options, scored them against a decision matrix, and set kill criteria before committing.
If you have a co-founder or business partner, which best describes your equity and decision-making setup?
A) We split 50/50 and figure things out as they come up. Nothing's really in writing beyond the LLC filing.
B) We have an operating agreement, but we've never discussed buyout terms, vesting, or what happens if someone leaves.
C) We have an operating agreement with vesting schedules, but we've never stress-tested the hard scenarios.
D) We have vesting, buyout provisions, decision-making authority clearly assigned, and we've had the uncomfortable conversations. (Or: solo founder.)
What percentage of your total revenue comes from your single largest customer or channel?
A) Over 40%. They're our biggest account and it would be devastating to lose them.
B) 20-40%. They're important but not the only game in town.
C) 10-20%. We're working on diversifying further.
D) Under 10%. No single customer or channel can sink us.
How are you funding your growth right now?
A) We're actively raising (or planning to raise) equity investment, and it's the primary plan for getting to the next stage.
B) We're bootstrapping, but we're burning through savings/personal credit and need revenue to catch up fast.
C) We're bootstrapping from revenue and have explored the capital stack but haven't needed outside equity yet.
D) We're profitable, self-funding growth from operations, and we've mapped out the full capital stack in case we ever need it.
If you disappeared for two weeks starting tomorrow (no phone, no email, no Slack), what would happen to your business?
A) It would stop. Almost nothing moves without me approving it or doing it.
B) A few critical things would stall, but day-to-day operations would mostly continue.
C) The team would handle almost everything, but a few strategic decisions would wait for me.
D) The business would run fine. I've built systems, delegation, and decision-making authority into the team.
How do you decide what features, products, or services to build or offer next?
A) I build what I think is valuable. I know this space.
B) I look at what competitors are doing and make sure we keep up.
C) I talk to customers informally and build based on what they seem to want.
D) I validate demand with real data (pre-sales, surveys, usage analytics) before building anything, and I kill products that don't perform.
Right now, without looking anything up, could you tell me your COGS, CAC, contribution margin, and customer lifetime value?
A) I'd have to go figure most of those out. We track revenue and expenses at a high level.
B) I know one or two of those, but not all four, and I'm not confident in the numbers.
C) I know most of them approximately, and I review them periodically.
D) I know all four off the top of my head, I review them regularly, and they drive my growth decisions.
How would you describe your current financial forecast or projections?
A) We have a growth projection that shows where we'll be if things go well. One scenario.
B) We have a forecast, but it's mostly top-line revenue and we haven't stress-tested it.
C) We run a base case and a worst case, but we don't update them very often.
D) We maintain three scenarios (base, bull, bear), update them monthly, and our cash flow forecast drives real decisions weekly.
Think about your last hire (or the hire you're planning). Which best describes your process?
A) We need help now, so we're hiring fast for the role we think we need.
B) We've defined the role, but we're mainly hiring based on resume and gut feeling from the interview.
C) We have a structured interview process, but we haven't stress-tested whether we can afford this role for 12 months if revenue dips.
D) We've confirmed the financial runway, defined measurable outcomes, built a structured evaluation, and have a 90-day checkpoint with exit criteria.
If someone offered to buy your company tomorrow, how ready would you be?
A) I haven't thought about selling. The business is me. I wouldn't even know where to start.
B) I've thought about it loosely, but I don't have a number, my books aren't clean, and nothing is documented for a handoff.
C) I know my number and my books are decent, but operations still depend on me and I haven't built a due diligence file.
D) I have a target number, clean books, documented processes, a due diligence file I update quarterly, and the business can run without me.
Be honest: when you introduce yourself at a dinner party or networking event, how do you describe yourself?
A) "I'm the [product/company] person." My company is my identity.
B) I lead with my company name and title. It's hard to separate who I am from what I've built.
C) I mention my company, but I also talk about other things I'm working on or interested in.
D) "I'm an entrepreneur." The current company is a vehicle, not my identity. I could pivot or close it tomorrow and still be me.
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