It does seem odd that the VC’s focus is on differentiating them from other VCs, rather than being interested in what they’re likely to put their money in.
Like so many things nowadays, this is just doing a job by a fixed process - crank the handle and the ‘right’ result comes out.
Stumbled across this post, detailing the process of how the author creates (and filters) startup ideas. Which is pretty interesting, but not of direct relevance to me as I have one startup idea, and just want to make that work, not create more!
However of even greater interest was the planning worksheet that he uses. Fortunately. a commenter pointed me to the Business Model Generation website, which created the worksheet.
Their resources include a hosted shared worksheet, a free PDF download (available here), and an iPad app. The iPad app is a bit steep (£20), but i eventually bit the bullet and bought it, and I’ll let you know how I get on.