Founder Screening Questionnaire

e.g. Idea stage, MVP in progress, MVP complete, early revenue, etc.

Beyond the product or service — what is the animating purpose behind this venture? What would be lost in the world if you didn't build it?

Describe the specific problem in precise, concrete terms. Who experiences it, how severely, and how often? What has the status quo cost them?

Walk us through the mechanism of your solution. How does a customer go from problem to resolution using your product or service? What makes it work?

Map the competitive landscape honestly — including indirect alternatives and the status quo. Where are they strong? Where do they fall short? What is your defensible advantage?

What has changed recently — technologically, regulatorily, culturally, or behaviorally — that creates the window for this venture? Why would this have failed two years ago, and why might it fail two years from now if not pursued today?

Define your Total Addressable Market (TAM), Serviceable Addressable Market (SAM), and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM). How did you arrive at these figures? What assumptions underpin them?
Note: brief explanations of TAM, SAM, and SOM are here.

Describe your current product state and the specific evidence of market demand — paying customers, letters of intent, pilot agreements, user engagement, revenue, or meaningful waitlist activity. Describe what you learned as much as what you earned. If you haven't launched yet, that's okay — just let us know where you are.

Describe your revenue model in specific terms: pricing structure, payment cadence, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, and the unit economics that underpin your business. How does this model scale?

Tell us the honest story of why this particular group of people, with your specific backgrounds and experiences, is uniquely suited to solve this problem. What have you each overcome to be here? Tell us where you come from, not just where you went to school.

Walk us through your current financial position: cash on hand, monthly burn, current revenue run rate, and key assumptions in your 18-month forecast. Where are you capital efficient, and where do you need to spend to grow? If you haven't launched yet, just let us know where you stand on funding (typically the amount already invested or committed from family, friends, and founders).

Every EmberGrow portfolio company must demonstrate that doing good and doing well are two parts of the same strategy. Describe the specific social, environmental, or governance outcomes your company is designed to produce. How will you measure them? Who benefits beyond your direct paying customers?

We believe the best solutions come from founders with genuine proximity to the problem. Tell us about your relationship — personal, professional, or both — to the community or challenge at the center of your venture.

Optional — use this space for anything important that didn't fit neatly above.

Optional.

Optional. Paste a shareable link to your deck or materials (Google Drive, Dropbox, DocSend, etc.). Please make sure link-sharing is turned on.