I do try to be consistent here but sometimes it is hard. I just want to share what I have been working on and THINKING about. Honestly I could not sleep ’cause my mind kept going ‘write the post, you will forget…”
Building a sustainable company is of importance to me. That is one of the reasons I am focused on building a solid foundation for the business. I do understand everything takes time and I am fine with the process. For me it is essential to be patient, learn the ropes, and grow at a steady pace.
With Keno.Tech, the goal is to build apps to make life simple for the users and solve problems that I have identified in my environment.
I have been doing a lot of research (videos, articles, books) online and reading tweets from people that I admire just to get an idea of how the tech/business world works.
With these tech competitions or funding programs, they have a list of requirements and I decided to take notes. It helped me to understand what investors want and core business strategies I have not addressed.
And if you are working on your tech company or another business, take a look at these and see if it is useful.
My Growth Fund (S.A.)
How to apply 👉🏾 https://t.co/qe1CDk3D3K
— MyGrowthFund VCC (@MyGrowthFund) July 18, 2020
There are 55 questions in the form. Going through it, I took notes of everything, asking myself questions and highlighting the ones I could not answer or my response did not make sense.
*Not numbered accurately, red text may include clown talk. Please ignore…
- What does the company do? What does Keno.Tech do? (answer seems shaky. Need to polish this)…
- What is unique about the company?
- What big problem does it solve?
- How big is the market opportunity?
- Where are your headquarters? My bedroom
- What is the size of the company in the next 5years? (projected)
- What is the actual addressable market?
- How did you arrive at the sales of your industry and its growth rate?
- Why does your company have high growth potential?
TEAM
- Who are the founders and key team members? Founder == Enakeno, TEAM == well…
- What key additions to the team are needed in the short term?
- Why is the team uniquely capable to execute the company’s business plan?
- How many employees do you have? Me, Myself and I (3)… yeah and Richard so 4.
- What motivates the founders?
- How do you plan to scale the team in the next 12 months?
*TEAM has to be SOLID… I cannot use sentiments to pick them*
PRODUCT
- Why do users care about your product or service?
- What are the major product milestones?
- What are the key differentiated features of your product or service?
- What have you learned from early versions of the product or service?
- What are the two or three key features you plan to add in the next quarter?
COMPETITION
- Who are the company’s competitors? *please note, there is no such thing as a business without competitors*
- What gives your company a competitive advantage?
- What advantages does your competition have over you? They have money
- Compared to your competition, how do you compete with respect to price, features, and performance?
- What are the industry barriers to entry?
MARKET AND CUSTOMER ACQUISITION
- How does the company market or plan to market its products or services?
- What is the company’s PR strategy?
- What is the company’s social media strategy?
- What is the cost of a customer acquisition (CAC)?
- What is the projected lifetime value (LTV) of a customer?
- What advertising will you be doing?
- What is the typical sales cycle between initial customer contact & closing of a sale?
INVESTMENT RISK
- What do you see are the principal risks to the business?
- What legal risks do you have?
- Do you have any regulatory risks? Sarai…hummm
- Are there any product liability risks?
EXIT STRATEGY
- What is the likely exit strategy?
- When do you see the exit happening?
- Who will be the likely acquirers?
- How will valuation of an exit be determined given market comparables?
IP
- What key intellectual property does the company have (patents, patents pending, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, domain names)?
- What comfort do you have that the company’s intellectual property does not violate the rights of a third party?
- How was the company’s intellectual property developed?
- Would any prior employers of a team member have a potential claim to the company’s intellectual property? Hummmmmmm
NUMBERS
- What are the company’s three-year projections?
- What are the key assumptions underlying your projections
- What future equity or debt financing will be necessary?
- When will the company get to profitability?
- How much burn will occur until the company gets to profitability?
- What are the factors that limit faster growth?
- What are the key financial metrics that the management team focuses on?
SLINGSHOT 2020
10-slides PDF presentation, addressing:
- Problem/solution
- Market and total addressable market (TAM)
- Value proposition and positioning
- Go-to-market strategy
- The business/revenue model
- Traction: KPI metrics & milestones
- Forecast 2020/2021
- Team Presentation
ACCESS BANK: WOMENPRENEUR
Key questions on the application form:
- Unique Selling Point (What is special about your business? What problem does it solve?)
- Elevator Pitch (Sell your business to an investor in 1 minute)
- What plans do you have for your business in the next year
Current Activities
Right now I am improving on the features on Sarai-App. I am contemplating if I should build a custom web app for Rodo-Destinations or use a premium WordPress theme and work on the app as we progress. It is funny ’cause I have been saying “maybe I should build a custom app for Rodo since last year but it will take time…” If I had just sat down and stopped worrying, it would be complete by now. I am also studying similar tech products relating to Sarai (Maternity) and Rodo (Tourism and Travel). I have outlined several competitions, their technology stack, revenue models, business strategies, their method of advertisement, team (skills, expertise, industry), etc.
I will give insights and feedback on my notes and what I have learnt so far in a couple of weeks…or months…Until then, stay safe!
