Product:
* What is your technology?
* What is the application of this technology?
* What is the profile of your ideal Target Customer Company?
* What is your Differentiated, Must Have Value Proposition to this Customer?
* Which Market? Which Segment? Why?
* How big is the Market? Is it big enough? How do you expand, if not?
* Who is the User of your Product? What is the Usage Model?
* How does the User currently solve this problem?
* Who is the Buyer?
* How strong is the pain? Does the Buyer care to solve the User’s pain?
* What is the ROI? How long will take to realize the ROI?
* What Value does the Customer see?
* What Price can you charge based on Perceived Value?
* What is the competition and how do you position against them?
* Whom do you need to partner with to offer a full solution / whole product?
* How do you position win-win deals for Partners?
Sales:
* What is the appropriate Channel Strategy (Direct, OEM, Resellers, SIs)?
* Are there Channel Conflicts? How do you resolve?
* What is your territory plan and prioritization based on market segment targets?
* Who is the Economic Buyer (EB)? What job title does that correspond to?
* Who is the relevant VITO? What job title does that correspond to?
* Who is the Technical Decision Maker (TDM)? What job title?
* Who is the User? How do you drive adoption amongst the Users? What job title(s)?
* Who is a likely Champion for your solution? What job title?
* Who can coach you inside an account? How do you gather information required to qualify the lead? Extract the pain? Position the solution?
* What is your positioning to the VITO? EB? TDM? User? Champion? Coach?
* What do you need to know about a Prospect to efficiently Qualify the Lead?
* What are the key Pain-Extraction questions for a rep to ask during qualification?
* What paid Proof-of-Concept / Pilot Engagement / Evaluation Framework will get you to a deal within a short time?
* What is the appropriate Sales Cycle Steps, Next Steps and Duration breakdown?
* What are the “must have” key target accounts of specific importance? Why? What do you need to accomplish in those engagements to be able to achieve high leverage for Reference Selling, Proof-points, and Metrics?
* Do you have Reference Accounts? What is the best strategy to leverage the Reference accounts and proof points?
* How do you build new Reference Accounts? Who is your target? Why? How do you penetrate, sell, and demonstrate ROI?
* Are there “must have” Channel relationships? What do you need to do to appropriately establish and manage them?
Corporate:
* What is the Product Roadmap for the Company?
* What is the unifying theme that positions the company and leverages its strengths (technology, product, channel, current customers, references, etc.)
* Is there a Platform Strategy? A Point Product Strategy? A Solution Strategy? What holds all these pieces together? How do you position to make it into an integrated “BIG” story?
* What products / pieces need to be repositioned / repackaged to align with the Corporate Strategy?
* What is the full story? Is it a powerful, differentiated story that can go beyond a point-product / one-trick pony, to become a Category Leader?
* What is the Category? Do you define a new category or position within an existing one?
* What technology / product / channel / media elements need to be introduced / influenced to make it into a larger story?
* What broad scale industry trends can you impact based on your offering, and how do you position to align with such trends?
* What is your Funding Strategy? How do you position, package, & sell?
* What is your Exit Strategy? How do you position, package, & sell?
Execution Roadmap:
* What is your next major milestone? - Product Launch? -Funding round? -Exit?
* What derivative milestones / related projects do you need to accomplish to be able to stay on track and execute on the strategy?
* What is the “project-resource-timeline” map tracking to the next milestone?
* What is the Messaging Matrix?
* What is the Collateral Map, based on the Sales Process / Sales Cycle Steps?
* What are the Reference Account milestones?
* What is the PR Strategy?
* Do you have the resources to staff all the projects that lead up to the milestones?
* Who will manage Lead Sourcing / Lead Generation / Lead Qualification?
* Who will manage the PR process, pitches, follow-ups, etc.?
* Who will write the collaterals? (Web Site, Sales Pitches, Data Sheets)
* Who will design and produce the web site?
* Who will manage events / tradeshows?
* What are the key additional hires / timeframe?
* Does everything align with your Operating Plan / Budget? What trade-offs do you need to make? What are the prioritization algorithms?
