The best question anyone can ask a founder

Welcome to Seed to Sequoia. We’re hosting an SF Tech Week event–How to Get Your Startup Acquired. Would love to see you there!

I spend my time talking to founders, early stage investors, and general startup junkies. One of those friends–probably the most helpful angel investor I know, Huan Le–mentioned a question he asks founders the other night.

I think it’s the best question ever.

The best question ever

“What company or person do you want to be your customer?”

It pains me to admit, but this is even better than “Who asked for this?” Which is also a great question, and one of my most popular articles.

Why is this such a useful question?

The investor’s perspective

Huan is an incredibly helpful investor. He’ll roll up his sleeves and do sales calls. He’ll hit up the ex-Bain mafia and get meetings with pretty much anyone for one of his companies. He’ll bring in other investors and help you raise your next round.

But the biggest help, by far, is helping you get customers. How would he know if or how he can help if he doesn’t ask who you want as a customer?

If you like magic wands, you could frame it that way: “If you could wave a magic wand and get any customer you wanted, who would that be?”

The question comes from a place of helpfulness. If Bob at Walmart is your perfect customer, and I worked at Bain with him, I can help you. If you want a hospital COO as a customer–maybe I can’t help you, because I don’t know any of them–and I’ll let you know.