Existential
The number one reason startups fail is because founders quit. You can’t fail until you quit (or die). Test your conviction, why are you doing this?
Personal
- Why be a founder? What do you want?
- Imagine you are successful with venture X, what then?
- How will your next 30,000 days play out broadly?
Company
- What is your mission?
- Why this market? Why this startup? Why you? Is your idea good? Why? Watch
- What is your exit plan? IPO? Quick sale? Something else?
- Are you a true VC type startup or an SMB?
Strategic
- What is your immediate objective?
- What key results matter?
- What experiments are you running? How will you measure?
- What’s your biggest obstacle?
- Have you done a pre-mortem on how you will fail and flail around?
Tactical
- What are your key activities? For distribution/growth? For product?
- How much do you need for ramen money i.e. be full time indefinitely?
- What is your customer segment? Who are you targeting? Are you B2B? D2C? Can you describe your guess of your archetype in great detail, like your best friend?
- Where will you find them?
- How will you recruit your first customer? The first 10?
- Are you pre-sale or post sale? What’s your sales script outline? Read