Your final interview is the last step in our selection process. This document aims to be transparent about the process so companies can be as prepared as possible.

Why We Do Final Interviews

Final interviews allow the Iterative team time to do deeper research into your space and company so we can ask more critical questions than we did over our initial calls. By the time we get together in a final interview, one or more partners would have written an investment memo on your company spent a good amount of time thinking through the opportunity, risks, and challenges.

Our goal from these interviews is to be able to align with you on vision and strategy for your company. In particular, we like to invest into companies where it's clear that we and the founders are aligned on what success looks like in 3 to 4 months so that we can help you raise a significant round of capital.

Before Your Interview

We recommend you put together a quick deck covering the agenda below (see During Your Interview). It doesn't need to be fancy. We would much prefer you spend time thinking through your content than making it look pretty.

Specifically, we recommend you spend your time thinking about what you want to achieve by the end of the program. Typically the goal at the end of the program is to raise your next round of funding. If that's the case, what do you think you will need to have accomplished (traction, proof of concept, etc.) to raise funding comfortably? With that in mind, what is your plan (with our help) to get there? How would you like us to help?

We obviously will have opinions on this, but we find the conversations are much more productive if both sides have thought about it ahead of time.

During Your Interview

Final interviews will be on Zoom. The Zoom link will be in the calendar event.

Agenda

1. Introductions (3 minutes) – Quick introductions for everyone on the call.
2. Pitch (5 minutes) – Basic pitch on what you're doing. At this point, we will know quite a lot about your company, but not all of the partners will have heard you pitch it. Be prepared to do this succinctly and concisely.
3. Updates (2 minutes) – Provide an update (traction, change in direction, etc.) since the last time we talked. Sometimes we invite companies to a final interview one or two months before the actual interview. A lot can happen to a startup at that time.
4. Question and Answer (20 minutes) – One of the partners will have spent a considerable amount of time writing an investment memo on your company and read by all the partners in preparation for your final interview. This process helps us figure out which areas we want to know more about. If you understand your business well, this shouldn't be a problem.
5. Ask Iterative Questions (5 minutes) – This time is yours. What would you like to know about Iterative or the program? Do you want feedback on the product or idea?

Who Should Attend

All founders.

After Your Interview

After we've conducted all the final interviews, we will spend the next few days selecting the final batch. You will receive an email from us within a week of the last final interview on whether we would like to invest.