The four things being assessed underneath every question, and the metrics that survive scrutiny.
6 min readWhatever is being asked, the assessment underneath is the same four things: is the market big enough to matter, is there evidence this works, is there a reason it keeps working once others notice, and are these the right people. Different stages weight them differently — pre-seed is almost entirely the fourth, Series A is heavily the second — but all four are always in play.
"Founder-market fit" means something specific: some reason you will see things about this problem that a smart generalist would not, and some reason you will still be doing it in five years. Prior domain experience is the usual form, but not the only one — obsessive, sustained engagement with the problem reads the same way. What does not read well is a founder who could just as plausibly be running any of four other startups.
Investors are also assessing whether they can trust your numbers. One overstated metric found in diligence recontaminates every other number in the deck, including the true ones.
General information for founders, not legal, tax or financial advice. Fundraising documents are binding in ways that are not obvious from reading them — take professional advice on anything you are about to sign.