Business

Put Your FAQ Together Before Not After You Start

Amar Virk

Jan 31, 2023 • 3 min read

How to Write a FAQ

First of all, this is just a guideline, not a checklist. You are the one with the intrinsic values to execute your idea and vision based on your unique experiences and desire. I'm just going to push you to Trust & Validate, Rinse & Repeat, Write & Refine.

Internal FAQ (Your Business Case)

The questions you want to know about this business or product to ensure viability. What would your business partners want to know? What would an investor want to know? Document what questions an Angle Investor (Private Investor), or a venture capitalist (Corporate Investor) would ask you if they were to invest in your business/ product service or idea.

Total Addressable Market (TAM) Size?
What are the Margins?
Background of the industry?
Key players?
Do you own any patents or have a unique method?
What's the Scalability component?
Estimated bill of materials for prototyping?
How will you measure success?
How does this integrate with the existing product line?
What is your rollout plan beyond the home market?
What are the most contentious points of the product?
How much inventory or overhead do you need (Run rate)?
What are the next milestones
Does anything spark intense debate?
What are the key milestones in your roadmap?
What's your exit strategy?

TIP: Identify the 3 Industry leaders in your field and/or Companies - If you could sit with them and ask them any questions what would those questions be? Now reverse that, if they were to sit with you and wanted to buy this or partner with you, what do they want to know? (I challenge you to call and ask, you might be pleasantly surprised)

If your idea has too many holes or there isn't market demand you can jump ship. This is why I love business, not a business. Ultimately the market will tell you if there is demand, so design it with the consumer in mind.

“Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks.” -Warren Buffett

External FAQ (Customer Case)

The questions that your customers might ask or want to know. Create some you can actually use on your website.

How many people are in the group?
How much 1-on-1 time?
Is it available in all regions?
Payment structure
Who is your customer?
How will this make your customer’s life significantly better?
How does it actually solve their pain point?
Where do we find the existing customers?
Why is this a problem that needs to be solved right now?
What is the delivery time?
What might bring dissatisfaction to the customer?
How will the customer discover or find our product?
Any referral program?

TIP: Selling is caring enough to fulfill the needs and desires of someone. Understand what they are so you can fulfill them. Understand their values, eating habits, spending habits, and shopping habits. Go into the psychographics so you can better serve them.

Summary

See the end in mind and build your FAQ in advance of building your product. It will ensure you see the details of your own vision. It will allow you to have the foresight of seeing the challenges and problems in advance. Remember this is progress over perfection, meaning get started and start with what the customer is looking for.

“The great memos are written and re-written, shared with colleagues who are asked to improve the work, set aside for a couple of days, and then edited again with a fresh mind... They simply can’t be done in a day or two.” - Jeff Bezos

TIP: Have your FAQ open as you write your Press Release, it will help with the details while ensuring you look at the big picture.