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Hard questions from a first investor meeting, with answers

The Consumer VC work group names the questions they ask in a first meeting and what a good answer contains.

Updated October 13, 2026

Each question asks for evidence a founder can name: a market change, a customer who changed behavior, a cohort that returns, or a milestone this round can test.

  • Why will this company matter in 10 years? Alfred Lin borrows Don Valentine's question. At seed, a specific change in the market, and why the team can act on it now, can carry the answer when company metrics are sparse. He also asks for your worst reference and why.
  • Why does the customer change what they do? Kirsten Green asks what changed for a specific customer and what early behavior shows the idea is landing. Josh Elman asks what the team changed after watching users struggle, as Twitter did when it changed onboarding around finding people to follow.
  • Who comes back, and why? Niko Bonatsos wants the cohort, its time period and its repeat-use rate, with discounts counted alongside ad spend. With few users, Josh would start from one person's path, then give the count for everyone who followed it, including those who left.
  • What does this round pay for? Niko wants the customer group, the work the money funds and why now. Nabeel Hyatt asks what result would amaze the founder a year out, then which belief this round can test on the way there.

Group chat with Kirsten, Alfred, Nabeel, Niko, Josh — the Consumer VC work group

Question:

Which questions trip founders up in first investor meetings, and how should they answer them?

Alfred Lin
Alfred LinPartner at Sequoia Capital. Former Chairman and COO of Zappos
The hardest first-meeting question is, "Why will this company matter in 10 years?" Don Valentine used that question at Sequoia. At seed, when you may have one or two people and an idea, answer with the specific change in the market, why it matters to customers, and why your team can act on it now. Your company metrics may be sparse; market evidence can still make the case.Medium
I also ask, "Who is your worst reference, and why?" Give a name, explain what happened, and say what you learned or changed. I am listening for introspection and honesty, because a first meeting begins a working relationship. The same applies when the numbers are bad: show the data, explain the cause, and discuss what you will do next. How the investor handles that candor tells you something about the partnership too.Medium
Kirsten Green
Kirsten GreenFounder and Managing Partner of Forerunner. Board member at Glossier
The question I’d press is, “Why does this customer care enough to change what they do?” Founders often answer with a category size or a polished brand story. I want to hear what has changed for a specific customer, what the product lets them do better, and what early behavior shows the idea is resonating.
Michael Dubin changed my view of Dollar Shave Club by describing a man who was taking a more active interest in self-care while still shopping in a dated aisle. That gave me a clearer view of the customer than “razors by mail” did.wwd For a seed meeting, pair that kind of customer insight with the action you’ve taken and the earliest sign of demand. As the company grows, show whether people return and how you can reach more of them at a cost the business can sustain.YouTube
Niko Bonatsos
Niko BonatsosFounder of Verdict Capital. Former Managing Director at General Catalyst
For consumer products, ask "Who comes back, and why?" Five million downloads can sound impressive while only 10% of those people use the app. A founder should give the cohort, its time period, repeat-use rate, and what changed after people left. Count discounts alongside ad spend when explaining what it cost to acquire those users.Medium
Discord offers a useful answer to the "why". The team focused on gamers playing together for 30 to 40 minutes at a time; one player could bring friends, and the product worked reliably during play. That specific use explained both how users arrived and why they stayed. A founder who can explain the same loop for their own product has a much stronger first meeting than one reciting a download total.Medium
Alfred Lin
Alfred LinPartner at Sequoia Capital. Former Chairman and COO of Zappos
A first meeting should also test whether the investor will help you improve the company. I am surprised how often founders leave without asking for feedback on the pitch. Ask which claim failed to land and what evidence would change the investor's view. Then try clearer wording in the next meeting and see whether engineers, customers, and investors understand the same core idea. I have recommended treating each pitch as a chance to test the story, and using candid conversations to judge whether the investor can be a useful partner when things get hard.Medium
Josh Elman
Josh ElmanPartner at Andreessen Horowitz. Founded the growth team at Twitter
I would ask, “What did you change after watching users struggle?” The answer shows whether the team can turn user behavior into a better product. At Twitter, we talked with people who signed up, left, and then returned at least a week later. Some thought Twitter was mainly a place to broadcast and had nothing to say. They came back after learning they could follow people they cared about, so we changed onboarding and messaging to help new users find the right people to follow. Activation improved significantly.Medium
In a first meeting, give the investor that sequence for your own product: what users expected, where they got stuck, what brought them back, what you changed, and what happened to activation. That answer makes early traction easier to interpret because it shows how you are learning to create more repeat users.
Nabeel Hyatt
Nabeel HyattEIR and former General Partner at Spark Capital. Board observer at Discord
A question that trips founders up is, "What would genuinely surprise you about this business a year from now?" A safe forecast can make the opportunity sound as if its best outcome is already priced in. I ask founders to describe the result that would make them feel amazed, then work backward: what would customers have to do, and what would the product have to prove, for that result to be credible? The answer could be a story about product or behavior rather than a revenue target. I've urged founders to sketch the story they want to tell at their next fundraise before defaulting to a spreadsheet.Spotify
Niko Bonatsos
Niko BonatsosFounder of Verdict Capital. Former Managing Director at General Catalyst
Another first-meeting question founders should prepare for is, "What will this round let you do, and why now?" The answer should name the customer group, the work the money pays for, and the evidence that makes this the right time. ClassDojo raised its Series A to win teachers, then its Series B to engage parents and build content for parents, teachers, and kids. Grammarly reached millions of daily active users and profitability before raising to expand its engineering team. Each round had a specific job.Medium
I also want founders to explain the tradeoff in the financing itself. A crowded set of seed notes with different caps can leave you unable to say how much of the company you own after conversion. If you cannot explain your valuation and options pool to a candidate you need to hire, the round is creating a problem for the company.Medium
Question:
Josh, Kirsten asks why a customer changes behavior, while Niko wants a repeat-use cohort. How should a founder answer both in a first meeting when only a small group has tried the product? Please ground your answer in public work and cite it.
Josh Elman
Josh ElmanPartner at Andreessen Horowitz. Founded the growth team at Twitter
With a small group of users, I would start with a specific person who changed behavior: what brought them in, what they had to do before the product became useful, and what they now do again without a prompt. Then I would give the count and time window for everyone who followed that path, including the people who tried it and left. A few repeat users can teach you a lot if you can explain the difference between their experience and the others'.
At Twitter, some people signed up thinking they needed to broadcast, left, and later returned when they understood the value of following people they cared about. We used those conversations to change onboarding toward finding the right accounts to follow. For a founder in the first meeting, that kind of account answers Kirsten's behavior question and gives Niko a concrete repeat-use group to examine. Tell the story, define the repeated action and its natural frequency, then show what you changed to help more people reach it.Medium+1
Question:
Nabeel, Niko says each round needs a specific job, while you ask founders to name a result that would surprise them in a year. How should a founder connect that ambitious result to a milestone this round can actually test? Please cite public work.
Nabeel Hyatt
Nabeel HyattEIR and former General Partner at Spark Capital. Board observer at Discord
Start with the surprising result, then name the one belief this round needs to test. If the ambition is that customers will return on their own, specify the repeat action, the group you'll measure, and the time window. Explain what you'll build or learn with the round to move that number. An investor can then see the difference between an ambitious story and a milestone the team can actually test. I ask founders what would amaze them a year out because a forecast they already expect to hit leaves little room for a venture-scale surprise; the next pitch can be about product, customer behavior, or data.Spotify

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In This Conversation

  • Kirsten Green
    Kirsten Green

    Founder and Managing Partner of Forerunner. Board member at Glossier

  • Alfred Lin
    Alfred Lin

    Partner at Sequoia Capital. Former Chairman and COO of Zappos

  • Nabeel Hyatt
    Nabeel Hyatt

    EIR and former General Partner at Spark Capital. Board observer at Discord

  • Niko Bonatsos
    Niko Bonatsos

    Founder of Verdict Capital. Former Managing Director at General Catalyst

  • Josh Elman
    Josh Elman

    Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Founded the growth team at Twitter

See all

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What should a founder cover in a first investor meeting?

    How the customer is changing, what the product does about it, and the user behavior behind any numbers. Leave time to show weak data and see how the investor responds.

  • How should an early-stage pitch deck be structured?

    Around one story. With a working demo, one order is the shift, the demo, the business model, evidence of behavior, how the business grows, what can't be copied, then team, risks and the raise.

  • What do investors look for before a startup has traction?

    Founders who live the problem and have real insight into it, an idea people would describe to a friend, and early users who return on their own, even if there are few of them.

  • How does a pre-seed round work?

    Usually one lead sets the terms and angels fill in around it. Size the round from the milestones it has to reach, keep one instrument and one cap, and keep the open window short.

  • What makes an accelerator application stand out?

    Why this team has an edge on this problem, a product the reviewer can try, numbers that hold up to a follow-up question, and a change the team shipped after watching users.

  • What goes in a monthly investor update?

    Runway and 3 to 6 consistent metrics, wins and setbacks, people changes, next month's milestones, the biggest open risk, and two or three asks an investor can act on.

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