9 questions reported in Index Ventures interviews, organised by the group that asks them. Every question carries a model answer and graded feedback on your own attempt.
Questions
Easy · Medium
Hard
Model builds
Built in the spreadsheet grid
Reference calls, technical diligence, term sheets and preference stacks. 4 questions
A foundational diligence exercise for a VC analyst or associate.
You have a 30-minute reference call with a startup's customer. How do you structure it, and which answers would concern you?
The workstream a VC analyst actually owns.
You have three weeks to diligence a Series B software company. What do you do?
A board-level portfolio case involving founder incentives, governance and an unusually large secondary request.
A Series C company is raising $60m primary capital at a $500m pre-money valuation. The founder asks to sell $15m of personal shares in the same round. Growth is strong, but the company has missed two…
Tests whether you know which terms are economic and which are control.
Beyond valuation, which term sheet provisions matter most? Separate the economic terms from the control terms.
Founder assessment, market sizing from first principles and ownership maths. 4 questions
The arithmetic every VC analyst is expected to do in their head.
A fund invests $5m for 20% of a company, and the round includes a 10% post-money option pool. What is the pre-money valuation, and who actually pays for the pool? Then: after two more rounds each…
A cap-table exercise used to test whether an analyst can reconcile headline valuation, ownership and pre-money option-pool dilution.
Two founders own 8.0m shares. Before a priced seed round, the investor requires a 1.0m-share option pool to be created. The investor puts in $2.0m for 20% post-money ownership. Calculate the investor…
The question that decides whether early traction becomes a durable business.
A startup is growing fast but the product could be rebuilt in six months by a competent team. Is that a problem? How do you assess defensibility?
Every deck claims a large TAM; the analyst's job is to test it.
A founder claims a $50bn TAM. How do you test that, and why does market size matter so much in venture?
Cohort economics, CAC payback, net revenue retention and burn multiple. 1 question
A growth-stage venture investor diligencing a workflow-software Series B before partner meeting.
You are the associate on a proposed Series B investment in a workflow-software company. Review the staged data room, choose the highest-value diligence actions, and write an investment recommendation…
Write your answer, get it graded on technical accuracy, completeness and communication, and see exactly which mechanic you missed.
Company tags reflect where a question type is commonly reported in interviews. They are not sourced from, endorsed by, or affiliated with Index Ventures.