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Four Questions Before You Write the Check
Description
Episode Summary
Neal Bloom takes the stage at the 2026 San Diego Angel Conference Knowledge & Networking Event at SDSU to walk a room full of aspiring and active angel investors through the four questions he uses to evaluate early-stage companies. Using live audience exercises - pitching Uber, Airbnb, and Palantir in one sentence, debating whether Viori was a pass or a miss - he turns startup evaluation from an abstract skill into something visceral and personal. This isn’t theory. It’s how the sausage gets made when real capital is on the line.
Key Topics
* The four-question framework for evaluating startups
* Why clarity is a test of the founder, not the investor
* One-sentence pitching exercises with Uber, Airbnb, and Palantir
* Venture scale outcomes vs. good small businesses
* Salt Couture vs. Reef vs. Vuori - three paths from the same starting point
* How EBITDA, CAC, and growth get valued differently across business types
* Excitement as signal, not hype
* The calendar test: would you spend one more hour on this company?
Links & Resources
* San Diego Angel Conference (SDAC)
* SDSU Fowler College of Business
* NuFund
* Vuori
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