Could I see myself or my wife working for/with this CEO? Would I quit my job and go work for this person? That’s the crux of it. If you’re a CEO out raising money, that is the lens with which you should view every interaction with a VC. You should come across in such a personally compelling way that they’re drawn to you. That’s the bar they are holding you to.   Summary The right amount of diligence is a great topic to think about, whether a company is ready for investment or not. This episode was made for founders getting ready for investment, or founders who want to start asking the right questions about their work. Ben and David discuss in depth what you can reasonably expect from VCs conducting diligence, and how to set yourself up for long-term value creation. Most importantly, Ben and David discuss the questions you should be prepared to answer and the questions you should be prepared to have asked about you.   Be sure to follow the Acquired Podcast: Acquired.fm @AcquiredFM Let People Know You’re An LP on Twitter! LP Show Page   Links from the Show: http://acquired.fm/survey   Show Bookmarks: [02:45] – The importance of Diligence [03:50] – Early Stage and People Diligence [13:15] – Market Landscape [18:02] – How can an Entrepreneur find the right VC for the right landscape? [22:11] – What is the best diligence a found has done on Wave Capital? [24:10] – ‘Where does the money come from?’ [29:35] – Diligence on the Product [37:06] – Post-Term Sheet Diligence [41:02] – Accounting Diligence [42:47] – Legal and IP Diligence [48:30] – Diligence on Seed vs Series B and beyond [50:00] – Diligence Variation based on time, risk, and opporunity   People Worth Knowing: Bijan Sabet Bill Gurley Don Valentine Eric Yuan Jake Saper Steve Jobs Trip Hawkins   Companies Mentioned in Episode: Perkins Coie Sequoia Spark Capital Square Cisco Taunt Uber Zoom   Episode Specific Terms: Consumer App Escape Velocity Frontier Tech IP Assignment Agreement M&A Market Map Pre and Post Term Sheet Diligence Product Risk vs People Risk Representations and Warranties Sovereign Wealth Fund Team Risk Term Sheet The Data Room VC Sourcing Strategy   Ben and David’s Affiliations: Wave Capital, @WaveCapitalVC Pioneer Square Labs, @psl