Meeting Outline

• Introductions
• Establish a time parameter and key outcomes
• Set goals for post-meeting follow up

Initial Questions

• What is the landscape (market) and why does this solution matter?
• How did you uncover this opportunity and how did you validate your understanding of the problem?
• Besides your strategic fundraise with Camping World, how do you plan to leverage network effects as a competitive advantage?
• What does customer discovery look like now? What are some key challenges in that approach for future/sustainability?
• Describe the Autio partner ecosystem. Who are some of the key players you lean most heavily on in this business? Where do you see opportunities to develop partnerships vs. competition? How can you minimize bottlenecks?
• Who in the customer/partner ecosystem is getting the most benefit from the product? (customer experience, marketing for destinations, education, etc.?)
• What does your trajectory look like for the next 1-3 years, what are the biggest pain points?
• How are you tackling issues of cognitive bias in your content offering?
• Why are you raising money at this juncture and how far will that capital take you? How can you extend the runway?

Summary of Takeaway Impressions

Addressable Improvement Areas

1. Company Purpose & Mission - What is the north star? Is it education, is it entertainment, is it community?

• If storytelling is a core element of Autio’s purpose, the team should reflect this. Adding a female chief storyteller/CMO is an example of signaling commitment to that purpose.

1. Total Addressable Market - If the product is capturing market share in multiple industries (e.g. travel, entertainment, and education) then it would make sense to clarify the TAM in light of those verticals. What is the beachhead market for Autio? If it’s travel, it would be easier to understand Autio’s value in light of how it interacts within the travel industry. Investors should want to know if that is the market where CAC and CLV are highest relative to the company’s purpose.

• Identify the trends and/or fastest growing user segments within your core market (e.g. millennials who travel by car) and identify how Autio is uniquely positioned to capitalize on that growth trend.

1. Aligning Company with Customer Persona - The pitch doesn’t clearly articulate how Autio is delivering value on dimensions [a large population of target] customers care about. From the pitch, it wasn’t clear that Autio has identified and refined the product to reflect demands from users. For example, if users are clamoring to contribute to content, you might have the beginnings of a UGC platform.

• Identify the feedback loops between Autio and its key, target user base more clearly.
• Are there stories that customers want to hear that haven’t been told yet on your platform (for example, there are millions of units of content on Youtube and cable networks with relevant engagement metrics that contain celebrity/influencer recommendations and stories about places)

1. Brand Strategy - There are two key areas where asymmetry show up in the Autio presentation: growth strategy and visual identity. As Woody explained in his pitch, Autio’s growth strategy is focused primarily in the enterprise space (e.g. auto and OTA partnerships), which establishes dependence on platforms (see SiriusXM as deploying similar strategy), but leaves a majority of B2C community driven, organic and sustainable growth opportunities on the table. For a product that sells directly to end users, the reason for this lack of symmetry in growth strategy is not yet clear. Additionally, the visual identity of Autio renders a discernment problem. What is the brand’s personality? How does this reflect the mission of Autio? What about the visual identity makes Autio memorable?

• Incorporate a timeline into your pitch that provides investors with more clarity on how Autio is aligning its growth with the demands of its key subscriber base

Continued Learning Resources

📚Curated for You: Podcasts, Articles and Books from the library of my startup, Infinity Road:

1. [Podcast] https://www.notion.so/infinityroad/Designing-Investment-Products-w-Jess-Lee-4666ca5d070f40d4a470509495bb6745
2. [Podcast] https://infinityroad.notion.site/Why-Purpose-is-the-Heart-and-Soul-of-High-Performance-Teams-w-Ranjay-Gulati-a6ca77da36534c6aa518275a6355a541
3. [Article] https://infinityroad.notion.site/The-Soul-of-a-Start-Up-be86d8aef07a45458c36280650151d10
4. [Article]

1. [Article]

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