“Are you in the manufacturing business or the technology business?”
The Texas Moot Corp finals were last week.
Congratulations to Solavicta, the winning team, who want to produce a low cost solar power generation system. They made a great presentation and I’m not surprised they came away the winner, even though there were other teams who had terrific ideas and solid presentations.
I took notes of the questions asked by the judges, to shed light on the thinking process of the evaluators. Of course, these questions were specific to the ventures being pitched, but they give a hint of what an investor might ask in a similar situation:
Product
– How will the product hold up over time?
– What is the projected lifetime of the product?
–Have you identified the designers who can solve some of the functional issues?
–Did you search for pre-existing IP? Are there others doing the same thing?
–How did you determine the performance factors upon which this product was designed?
Financial Model
– Explain the fixed and variable costs in your model
–Won’t you run out of money too fast?
–Why are the legal fees so high in your proforma?
–I’m worried that you could grow too fast and go out of business. Is your cost structure right?
