Scenario planing
B2G fundraising process and common questions
→ "What's your sales cycle?" — Have the real data, not the optimistic version → "How do you handle payment delays?" — Show your working capital strategy → "What's your renewal rate?" — Explain why it's different from monthly churn → "Show me the downside scenario" — Have it modeled and ready → "When do you hit cash flow positive?" — Know the date and what drives it
There's a moment in every B2G fundraising process where the conversation shifts from your product vision to the mechanics of your business. The investor has seen enough pitch decks to know that government technology can be a great market, but they've also been burned by companies that didn't understand the operational complexity. What follows is a series of questions designed to separate founders who really understand their business from those who are still learning.
The first question is almost always about sales cycle. "How long does it take to close a deal?" If you say "three months" for government contracts, the investor knows you haven't actually closed many. Six to eighteen months is the realistic range, and being honest about it — while showing that you've planned for the cash requirements — builds credibility. Trying to minimize the number destroys it.
Then comes the working capital question. "How do you handle payment delays?" This is where the investor learns whether you've just modeled revenue or whether you actually understand cash flow. The right answer involves specific numbers: your average AR days, your working capital reserves, your strategy for bridging the gap between delivery and payment. The wrong answer is some variation of "it's usually thirty days" because that's what your contract says.
Renewal rates get asked differently in B2G. "What's your churn?" isn't quite the right framing when customers sign multi-year contracts. The investor wants to know your contract renewal rate at renewal points, which is a different calculation than monthly SaaS churn. If you're presenting monthly churn numbers for an annual contract business, you've lost credibility.
The scenario question reveals how deeply you've thought about risk. "Show me the downside case." If you don't have one prepared, you're signaling that you haven't seriously engaged with what could go wrong. Investors don't expect you to predict the future perfectly, but they expect you to have thought about ranges and contingencies.
Finally, the cash milestone question: "When do you hit cash flow positive?" Not breakeven, which is an accounting concept, but cash flow positive, which is when you stop needing external capital to operate. These are different dates, sometimes by years, and confusing them suggests you don't understand your own model.
The Verter Studio framework prepares you for all five of these questions with outputs designed for investor conversations.
→ "What's your sales cycle?" — Have the real data, not the optimistic version
→ "How do you handle payment delays?" — Show your working capital strategy
→ "What's your renewal rate?" — Explain why it's different from monthly churn
→ "Show me the downside scenario" — Have it modeled and ready
→ "When do you hit cash flow positive?" — Know the date and what drives it
What's the hardest investor question you've faced?
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