Interviewing an Entrepreneur

Note: these questions are for use as a guide only. There is no requirement to follow a script. The paper will be judges on the depth of analysis, understanding of the business and clarity of the write up.

Please use headers, bullet points and separate areas by topic.

Goal: To come away with an analysis of a key decision an entrepreneur faced and how they made the decision.

Ideally it should be a decision you’re personally interested in: E.g.

· How did you decide to start a company?

· How did you make key hires?

· How did you pick key partners?

· How did you decide on funding?

· What was the best/worst decision you ever made in your life?

Get in the habit of never leaving a good opportunity like this without getting two other contacts that will be useful in the future.

Paper should be 2-4 pages and include:

1. Background of the entrepreneur and the business: Experience, education and path to current position.

1. What's been your career path since college/business school?

2. When did you know you were an entrepreneur?

3. Why did you start this company? Probe here on market, product, customer and business model. What changed since the initial concept?

1. What's the biggest mistake you've made since starting the company?

2. What did you do right?

3. Given what you know now about business, what advice would you give yourself as you're leaving college?

4. What does success mean to you? 

5. How big do you think your company will be next year, in 3 years? What are the impediments to growth?

2. What's the biggest strategic question facing your company today? 

1. How are you going about answering that?

2. What information are you gathering?

3. How data driven is your analysis?

4. What’s your decision-making process?

3. Analysis:

1. What do you think of the entrepreneur’s decision-making process?

2. What did you learn and how would you apply it in future?