Key questions

Validate the problem, market, and vision before committing resources.

• ProblemWhat specific problem does the platform solve, and for whom?+

  Why it matters — Anchors everything else; a fuzzy problem yields a fuzzy product.

  Whom to ask — Founders, target users

• ProblemWhat does the target user do today to solve this problem without the platform?+

  Why it matters — Reveals the real competitor: the status quo and workarounds.

  Whom to ask — Target users

• ProblemHow painful, frequent, and costly is this problem on a day-to-day basis?+

  Why it matters — Distinguishes a vitamin from a painkiller.

  Whom to ask — Target users

• UsersWho is the primary user, and how do they differ from the buyer and the beneficiary?+

  Why it matters — User, buyer, and beneficiary are often different people with different needs.

  Whom to ask — Founders, prospects

• UsersWhat jobs are users trying to get done, and what outcome defines success for them?+

  Why it matters — Outcomes, not features, drive adoption.

  Whom to ask — Target users

• MarketHow large is the addressable market, and is it growing, flat, or shrinking?+

  Why it matters — Determines whether the opportunity can support the ambition.

  Whom to ask — Founders, analysts

• MarketWhat macro trends make now the right time to build this?+

  Why it matters — Timing is a top reason ventures succeed or fail.

  Whom to ask — Founders, advisors

• CompetitionWho else serves this need, and why would a user choose us over them?+

  Why it matters — No differentiation means no reason to switch.

  Whom to ask — Founders, prospects

• CompetitionWhat would it take for an incumbent to copy us, and how fast?+

  Why it matters — Tests whether the wedge is durable.

  Whom to ask — Founders, advisors

• VisionWhat does the platform look like at full scale, three to five years out?+

  Why it matters — A clear endgame guides near-term sequencing.

  Whom to ask — Founders

• ScopeWhat is explicitly out of scope for the first version, and why?+

  Why it matters — Discipline on scope is what makes a first version shippable.

  Whom to ask — Founders, product

• AssumptionsWhat are the riskiest assumptions, and how will we test each cheaply?+

  Why it matters — De-risking beats building on faith.

  Whom to ask — Founders, product

• ConstraintsWhat constraints — regulatory, technical, financial, time — bound the solution?+

  Why it matters — Constraints shape what is realistically buildable.

  Whom to ask — Founders, legal, finance

• SuccessWhat measurable signals in the first 90 days would prove we are on the right track?+

  Why it matters — Forces an early, falsifiable definition of progress.

  Whom to ask — Founders, product

• SuccessWhat would make us decide to stop, pivot, or persevere?+

  Why it matters — Pre-committing to kill criteria prevents sunk-cost drift.

  Whom to ask — Founders, investors

Define the product, architecture, team, and quality bar.

• ProductWhat is the smallest version that delivers the core value end to end?+

  Why it matters — Defines the minimum lovable product, not just minimum viable.

  Whom to ask — Product, engineering

• ProductWhich single workflow must feel effortless for the platform to be worth using?+

  Why it matters — Concentrating quality on the core loop beats spreading it thin.

  Whom to ask — Product, users

• ArchitectureWhat are the core entities and relationships the system must model?+

  Why it matters — The data model is the hardest thing to change later.

  Whom to ask — Engineering, architects

• ArchitectureHow will the platform scale as users, data, and usage grow by 10x and 100x?+

  Why it matters — Scaling assumptions baked in early are expensive to undo.

  Whom to ask — Engineering

• ArchitectureWhat should we build ourselves versus buy or integrate?+

  Why it matters — Focus engineering on the differentiated core.

  Whom to ask — Engineering, product

• QualityHow will we know the platform works correctly and stays working?+

  Why it matters — Testing and observability prevent silent erosion of trust.

  Whom to ask — Engineering, QA

• SecurityHow is user data protected at rest, in transit, and in access?+

  Why it matters — Security failures are existential and hard to recover from.

  Whom to ask — Security, engineering

• PrivacyWhat data do we collect, why, and how long do we keep it?+

  Why it matters — Data minimization reduces risk and builds trust.

  Whom to ask — Legal, security

• ReliabilityWhat uptime and performance levels must we hold, and how do we measure them?+

  Why it matters — Reliability expectations define the operational bar.

  Whom to ask — Engineering, ops

• ExtensibilityHow will the platform accommodate features we haven't imagined yet?+

  Why it matters — Flexibility today avoids rewrites tomorrow.

  Whom to ask — Architects, product

• TeamWhat skills must the building team have, and where are the gaps?+

  Why it matters — Capability gaps slow or sink delivery.

  Whom to ask — Founders, hiring

• ProcessHow will we decide what to build next when everything feels urgent?+

  Why it matters — A prioritization method prevents thrash.

  Whom to ask — Product

• SpeedWhat is our cadence for shipping and learning from real usage?+

  Why it matters — Faster learning loops compound into advantage.

  Whom to ask — Product, engineering

• DebtHow will we balance shipping fast against accumulating technical debt?+

  Why it matters — Unmanaged debt eventually halts velocity.

  Whom to ask — Engineering

• AccessibilityHow will the platform be usable by people with differing abilities and contexts?+

  Why it matters — Accessibility widens the market and is often required.

  Whom to ask — Design, legal

Position the platform and create a repeatable path to revenue.

• PositioningIn one sentence, what is the platform and who is it for?+

  Why it matters — If you can't say it simply, customers can't repeat it.

  Whom to ask — Marketing, founders

• PositioningWhat category does the buyer place us in, and is that the category we want?+

  Why it matters — Category framing shapes expectations and comparisons.

  Whom to ask — Marketing, prospects

• ValueWhat is the quantified value a customer gets, in their own terms?+

  Why it matters — Buyers fund outcomes, not features.

  Whom to ask — Sales, customers

• ICPWhat does the ideal early customer look like, precisely?+

  Why it matters — A sharp ICP makes every other go-to-market choice easier.

  Whom to ask — Sales, founders

• BuyerWho holds the budget, who influences, and who can block the purchase?+

  Why it matters — Deals stall when the real decision unit is misread.

  Whom to ask — Sales

• ChannelsThrough which channels will we reach buyers most efficiently?+

  Why it matters — Channel-market fit is as important as product-market fit.

  Whom to ask — Marketing, sales

• MessageWhat objection will we hear most, and what is our honest answer?+

  Why it matters — Anticipated objections shorten sales cycles.

  Whom to ask — Sales

• ProofWhat evidence — proof, references, data — convinces a skeptical buyer?+

  Why it matters — Trust is the currency of the first sale.

  Whom to ask — Sales, marketing

• CycleHow long is the sales cycle, and what are its stages and exit criteria?+

  Why it matters — Pipeline discipline makes revenue predictable.

  Whom to ask — Sales

• TrialHow will a prospect experience value before they commit?+

  Why it matters — Demonstrated value beats promised value.

  Whom to ask — Product, sales

• Pricing-fitDoes our price match the value and the buyer's budget authority?+

  Why it matters — Price-value-budget mismatch kills otherwise-good deals.

  Whom to ask — Sales, finance

• CompetitionWhen we lose a deal, what do we lose to and why?+

  Why it matters — Loss analysis is the cheapest market research available.

  Whom to ask — Sales

• BrandWhat do we want people to feel and say about us when we're not in the room?+

  Why it matters — Reputation precedes and outlasts any single pitch.

  Whom to ask — Marketing, founders

• EnablementWhat do salespeople and partners need to sell confidently and accurately?+

  Why it matters — Under-enabled sellers misrepresent and underperform.

  Whom to ask — Sales, marketing

Get users to value and keep the experience reliable at scale.

• OnboardingWhat must a new user accomplish to reach their first real win, and how fast?+

  Why it matters — Time-to-value predicts retention.

  Whom to ask — Product, success

• OnboardingWhere do new users most often get stuck or drop off?+

  Why it matters — Friction points are the highest-leverage fixes.

  Whom to ask — Product, support

• ActivationWhat defines an 'activated' user who has truly adopted the platform?+

  Why it matters — A clear activation bar focuses the whole team.

  Whom to ask — Product, growth

• SupportHow will users get help, and how quickly must we respond?+

  Why it matters — Support quality shapes trust and churn.

  Whom to ask — Support

• ReliabilityWhat is our plan when the platform breaks or degrades for users?+

  Why it matters — Incident handling protects relationships under stress.

  Whom to ask — Ops, support

• MigrationHow will customers move their existing data and workflows onto the platform?+

  Why it matters — Migration friction is a silent adoption killer.

  Whom to ask — Success, engineering

• TrainingWhat do users and admins need to learn, and how will we teach them?+

  Why it matters — Capable users get more value and stay longer.

  Whom to ask — Success, docs

• FeedbackHow do we capture, triage, and act on user feedback systematically?+

  Why it matters — A feedback loop turns users into co-designers.

  Whom to ask — Product, support

• SuccessHow do we measure whether customers are achieving their desired outcome?+

  Why it matters — Outcome tracking is the basis of renewal.

  Whom to ask — Success

• OperationsWhat manual work sits behind the product today, and how will it scale?+

  Why it matters — Hidden manual ops cap growth and margins.

  Whom to ask — Ops, founders

• SLAsWhat service commitments do we make, and how do we honor them?+

  Why it matters — Commitments set expectations and legal exposure.

  Whom to ask — Ops, legal

• TrustHow do we communicate status, changes, and incidents transparently?+

  Why it matters — Transparency sustains trust through inevitable problems.

  Whom to ask — Comms, ops

• QualityHow do we ensure the experience stays consistent as we add features?+

  Why it matters — Feature sprawl can degrade the core experience.

  Whom to ask — Product, design

• Scale-supportHow will support and success scale without cost rising in lockstep with users?+

  Why it matters — Linear support cost erodes margins at scale.

  Whom to ask — Success, finance

Turn value into durable, profitable revenue.

• ModelHow does the platform make money, and why is that model right for this market?+

  Why it matters — The revenue model shapes incentives and behavior.

  Whom to ask — Founders, finance

• PricingWhat is the value metric we charge on, and does it scale with customer value?+

  Why it matters — Aligning price to value sustains fairness and growth.

  Whom to ask — Finance, product

• TiersHow are offerings packaged, and what moves a customer between tiers?+

  Why it matters — Packaging guides buyers and drives expansion.

  Whom to ask — Product, sales

• WillingnessWhat are customers actually willing to pay, and how do we know?+

  Why it matters — Pricing guesses leave money or deals on the table.

  Whom to ask — Sales, customers

• Unit-economicsWhat does it cost to acquire a customer versus their lifetime value?+

  Why it matters — CAC-to-LTV determines whether growth is profitable.

  Whom to ask — Finance, growth

• MarginsWhat is the gross margin per customer, and what drives the cost?+

  Why it matters — Margins decide how much growth the business can fund.

  Whom to ask — Finance

• PaybackHow long until a customer repays their acquisition cost?+

  Why it matters — Payback period governs cash and growth pace.

  Whom to ask — Finance

• ExpansionHow does revenue per customer grow over time after the first sale?+

  Why it matters — Net expansion is the engine of efficient growth.

  Whom to ask — Success, finance

• Churn-revenueHow much revenue do we lose to churn and downgrades, and why?+

  Why it matters — Revenue leakage can quietly cancel out new sales.

  Whom to ask — Finance, success

• BillingHow will we handle billing, collection, taxes, and failed payments?+

  Why it matters — Billing operations affect cash and customer goodwill.

  Whom to ask — Finance, ops

• DiscountsWhat is our policy on discounts, and how do we avoid eroding price integrity?+

  Why it matters — Undisciplined discounting devalues the offering.

  Whom to ask — Sales, finance

• CashWhat is our runway, burn, and path to sustainable cash flow?+

  Why it matters — Cash discipline keeps the venture alive long enough to win.

  Whom to ask — Finance, founders

• ForecastHow predictable is revenue, and what are the leading indicators?+

  Why it matters — Predictability enables confident investment.

  Whom to ask — Finance, sales

• FundingWhat capital, if any, is needed, and on what terms is it worth taking?+

  Why it matters — Capital strategy shapes control and obligations.

  Whom to ask — Founders, investors

Build repeatable acquisition, retention, and expansion engines.

• AcquisitionWhich acquisition channels are repeatable, scalable, and cost-effective?+

  Why it matters — Sustainable growth needs channels that don't break at scale.

  Whom to ask — Growth, marketing

• LoopsWhat built-in loops cause usage to drive more usage?+

  Why it matters — Loops compound; campaigns don't.

  Whom to ask — Growth, product

• RetentionWhat share of users are still active after 30, 90, and 365 days?+

  Why it matters — Retention is the true measure of product-market fit.

  Whom to ask — Growth, product

• EngagementWhat does healthy ongoing engagement look like, and who falls below it?+

  Why it matters — Engagement signals predict churn before it happens.

  Whom to ask — Product, growth

• ReferralWhy and when do happy users tell others about the platform?+

  Why it matters — Word of mouth is the cheapest, most credible channel.

  Whom to ask — Growth, customers

• SegmentsWhich customer segments grow fastest and retain best?+

  Why it matters — Doubling down on the best segments accelerates growth.

  Whom to ask — Growth, sales

• ExperimentHow do we run experiments, and how do we decide what won?+

  Why it matters — A disciplined experiment system beats opinion-driven bets.

  Whom to ask — Growth, data

• FunnelWhere in the funnel do we lose the most potential value, and why?+

  Why it matters — The biggest leak is usually the biggest opportunity.

  Whom to ask — Growth, data

• Expansion-marketWhat adjacent users, segments, or geographies should we expand into, and when?+

  Why it matters — Sequencing expansion avoids overreach.

  Whom to ask — Founders, growth

• NetworkDoes the platform get more valuable as more people use it, and how?+

  Why it matters — Network effects are among the strongest moats.

  Whom to ask — Founders, product

• PartnershipsWhich partnerships could unlock distribution or capability faster than building alone?+

  Why it matters — Partners can multiply reach without proportional cost.

  Whom to ask — BD, founders

• Data-advantageHow does usage generate data that makes the platform better over time?+

  Why it matters — Compounding data advantage is hard for rivals to match.

  Whom to ask — Product, data

• Org-scaleHow do we scale the organization without losing speed and culture?+

  Why it matters — Scaling people is as hard as scaling systems.

  Whom to ask — Founders, HR

• LimitsWhat will be the next constraint on growth, and are we preparing for it?+

  Why it matters — Anticipating the bottleneck keeps momentum.

  Whom to ask — Founders, ops

Make the platform defensible, resilient, and built to last.

• MoatWhat makes the platform hard to displace once a customer adopts it?+

  Why it matters — Durable advantage is what turns growth into a lasting business.

  Whom to ask — Founders, strategy

• SwitchingWhat are the real switching costs for a customer who wants to leave?+

  Why it matters — Switching costs blunt competitive and price pressure.

  Whom to ask — Strategy, success

• ConcentrationHow dependent are we on any single customer, channel, supplier, or person?+

  Why it matters — Concentration is fragility; diversification is resilience.

  Whom to ask — Founders, finance

• ResilienceWhat single failure could take the platform down, and how do we prevent it?+

  Why it matters — Identifying single points of failure prevents catastrophe.

  Whom to ask — Engineering, ops

• ComplianceWhat laws and regulations govern us, and how do we stay compliant as they change?+

  Why it matters — Regulatory missteps can end a business overnight.

  Whom to ask — Legal, compliance

• TrustHow do we earn and keep user trust as we grow and change?+

  Why it matters — Trust is slow to build and fast to lose.

  Whom to ask — Founders, comms

• AdaptationHow will we detect and respond when the market or technology shifts under us?+

  Why it matters — The ability to adapt outlasts any single advantage.

  Whom to ask — Founders, strategy

• CultureWhat values and practices must survive as founders and early staff move on?+

  Why it matters — Culture is what runs the company when leaders aren't watching.

  Whom to ask — Founders, HR

• KnowledgeHow is critical knowledge documented so it survives turnover?+

  Why it matters — Institutional memory prevents repeating costly mistakes.

  Whom to ask — Ops, HR

• GovernanceHow are major decisions made, and who is accountable for what?+

  Why it matters — Clear governance prevents drift and conflict.

  Whom to ask — Founders, board

• EthicsWhat harms could the platform cause, and how do we prevent and detect them?+

  Why it matters — Proactive ethics protects users and the business.

  Whom to ask — Founders, legal

• SustainabilityIs the cost and resource model sustainable as we scale and as inputs change?+

  Why it matters — An unsustainable cost base eventually collapses.

  Whom to ask — Finance, ops

• SuccessionWhat happens to the platform if a key leader or partner departs suddenly?+

  Why it matters — Continuity planning protects customers and value.

  Whom to ask — Founders, board

• LegacyIf we succeed, what lasting change will the platform have created — and is that worth building?+

  Why it matters — Purpose sustains the team through the long, hard middle.

  Whom to ask — Founders, all