Why Investors Ask the Questions They Ask
Grammar: Cleft Sentences
A Business English English lesson exploring business.
What's in this lesson
A Business English ESL lesson on business, practising cleft sentences. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary, a grammar reference with practice and discussion questions.
From the reading: Why Investors Ask the Questions They Ask
Here is something counterintuitive. The investor who interrupts your pitch to challenge your market size is probably your biggest fan in the room. Roelof Botha of Sequoia Capital — who backed YouTube and Instagram before almost anyone else — has said publicly that the questions he finds most interesting are the ones where a founder's answer reveals how deeply they understand their own business. He is not trying to break you. He is trying to find out whether anything can. The adversarial question is a stress-test, not an attack.
Vocabulary
- poke holes in
- reframe the objection
- stand your ground
- stress-test
Grammar: Cleft Sentences
- Cleft sentence
- What we have demonstrated is a 60% lower cost-per-acquisition. — shifts emphasis to the new information
- Fronting — contrast
- Challenging as the market is, our traction numbers remain strong. — acknowledge difficulty, then pivot forward
Discussion questions
- What would you do if an investor publicly said your market size was wrong?
- Imagine you can predict every question before it's asked — would that help you?
- What would you change about your pitch if you knew it would be challenged on every slide?
Why Investors Ask the Questions They Ask
Grammar: Cleft Sentences
What's in this lesson:
Full lesson plan with reading, grammar, vocabulary, and discussion.
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