1. Master Your Narrative Structure

Many founders dive straight into product details or technology specs, losing investor attention before they’ve even started. Your pitch needs a clear story arc that builds understanding progressively, with particularly strong opening and closing moments; these are what investors remember and share with their partners.

“Think of your first slide like a movie trailer – show people just enough to get excited about what’s coming. Don’t give away all the details, but make them want to see more.” – Marin

Examples

• Open with your 2-3 strongest investor-focused metrics
• Follow with the problem you’re solving and why it matters now
• Use analogies to familiar businesses when explaining complex concepts
• Start with your industry’s big picture before diving into your solution
• Save technical details for later slides or appendix
• End with your most compelling forward-looking metric or statement
• Keep opening and closing slides clean and memorable – they’re what gets remembered

2. The Personal Connection

VCs aren’t just investing in metrics – they’re investing in people. Whether it’s a family team bringing deep industry experience or world-class experts uniquely qualified to solve a problem, investors need to understand why you’re the right team for this journey. The best founders combine expertise with genuine passion for the space and challenge – they’re the ones who persevere through hard times and find ways around obstacles.

“I want to know your connection to this business. When founders share their personal story and why they’re committed, that’s what gets me emotionally invested.” – Marin

Examples

• Share why you started this company – personal experience with the problem or unique insight into the solution
• Demonstrate unique qualifications that make you the right team (domain expertise, patents, industry experience)
• Show meaningful commitment (left secure positions, personal investment, passed up other opportunities)
• Highlight why your founding team dynamic works (complementary skills, shared history, aligned vision)

3. Nail the “Why Now” Moment

Converting businesses from their current solutions (even if that’s an Excel spreadsheet from 1995) isn’t just challenging – it’s often seen as impossible. Investors have heard “the time is right” for decades. Your job is to prove why the market is genuinely ready for change, whether that’s through regulatory shifts, technological evolution, or changing consumer behaviour.

Examples

• Show specific regulatory changes or market shifts creating urgency
• Demonstrate why existing solutions are becoming obsolete
• Provide examples of early adopters making the switch
• Quantify the cost of not changing

4. Demonstrate Business Engine Viability

Investors need to believe your business can consistently acquire customers and generate revenue. Many founders focus on total numbers but fail to show the underlying mechanics of their growth.

“What investors need to believe is that you have a way to consistently get customers into the machine and get money on the other side… I always want a cohort that looks flat at some point, because that means for some pocket of your users, they are consistently using it.” – Marin

Examples

• Show cohort data demonstrating sustained usage over time
• Present clear customer acquisition channels and costs
• Demonstrate improving unit economics
• Highlight evidence of accounts expanding over time
• For early-stage startups: Use analogous examples to demonstrate market willingness to pay, backed by credible business model projections

5. Market Size & Growth Strategy

Simply stating a large Total Addressable Market (TAM) isn’t enough – and can actually harm your credibility. VCs need to understand not just the total market size, but your specific path to capturing it. Show them how you’ll build from your current segment to adjacent opportunities through clear, staged growth.

“Don’t just show us a huge market. Help us do the math and show us how you’ll build a multi-billion dollar business starting with your core market. Make it easy for us to see your path to scale.” – Ryan

Examples

• Break down TAM into specific, addressable segments
• Present both top-down market size and bottom-up growth trajectory
• Show clear expansion strategy across segments
• Provide evidence of initial market penetration
• Demonstrate understanding of market dynamics and timing

6. Competition & Differentiation

Hiding from competition is a red flag for investors. Whether you’re disrupting incumbents or competing with other startups, investors need to see that you understand your market position clearly and honestly. Strong founders don’t just acknowledge competitors – they demonstrate a deep understanding of why customers choose them instead.

“In most situations, there’s one “800 pound Gorilla” competitor, alternative to your product. The thing that most of your potential customers use today. You have to make a compelling case on why people are going to choose your product over that.” – Marin

Examples

• Name and analyze key competitors directly (don’t take too much time on this though – focus more on you than them)
• Show specific examples where you’ve won competitive deals
• Demonstrate sustainable advantages (not just feature differences)
• Prove you understand why customers switch to you

7. Fundraising Strategy

Your fundraising process needs to be as well-planned as your product strategy. Many founders treat fundraising reactively, taking meetings as they come and focusing on one investor at a time. This approach leads to weak negotiating positions and missed opportunities. Running a coordinated process with multiple VCs moving in parallel creates the competitive dynamics needed for better terms.

“Think of it like a playoff bracket – build a pipeline of firms and keep them moving through stages together. If you’re deep with one firm but the one you really want is just taking their first meeting, you’ve lost your leverage.” – Ryan

Examples

• Create clear timeline for fundraising (typically 2-3 months)
• Manage multiple investor conversations in parallel
• Build competitive tension through process structure
• Plan for 18-24 months of funding runway from raise

8. Due Diligence Goes Both Ways

Selecting the right investor is as crucial as securing the funding. Many founders chase the highest valuation or first term sheet, but remember: you’re choosing a long-term partner who could stick around for a decade or more. Your funding will run out relatively soon, but investors remain – at worst, they can fire you or force bad exits, and at best, they’ll fight for you, leverage connections, and provide crucial bridge funding when you need it most.

“Don’t just talk to the startups that are on the VCs website. They’ll send you the ones they clearly want you to talk to. Find the companies that failed – that’s when you really learn about an investor’s character.” – Ryan

Examples

• Talk to companies not listed on the VC’s website
• Specifically seek out companies that struggled or failed
• Understand the partner’s decision-making process
• Evaluate their behaviour in tough situations

9. Slide Design For Impact

Your slides need to be instantly understandable. VCs see thousands of decks – if they have to squint, search for numbers, or decipher complex charts, you’ve already lost them. The goal isn’t to impress with design complexity, but to convey information so clearly it can be understood at a glance.

“Any slide should tell investors what they need to know before they read! Don’t have them squint at small details, or decipher complex graphs or tables.” – Marin

Examples

• One key message per slide
• For each message, give about 3 supporting points: pieces of evidence that will convince investors that what you’re claiming is true
• Most founders share too many details and have too much text on their slide. The right amount of text is probably 50% of what you think the right amount is
• Keep key metrics large and prominent
• Strategic use of appendix for supporting details