To nail your Series A investor pitch, focus on 3 things: Story, State, and Simplicity.
Your Story
You might be running an amazing business, but if you can’t get investors excited about your story, it doesn’t matter.
Investors are people, and people invest in other people — this is driven by your personal story and its alignment with your startup’s vision.
This is especially important at an early stage, when your business is heavier on vision and early traction, but less proven on scaled growth and optimized margins.
Tap into what got you excited about your business, what caused you to quit your job and take the plunge.
Focus on your founder story and your customer needs first, then zoom out and talk about the market, why you’ll win, and where your long term defensibility is.
Find the few, most compelling data points and make them easy to understand and visually appealing.
Highlight compounding network effects, if they’re a natural part of your business model.
Working with a great designer/storyteller to ruthlessly workshop and edit your deck is worth every minute and every penny.
Your State
How you show up impacts how others feel. Human emotions are contagious.
The old adage rings true for good reason – people really will forget much of the details in your pitch, but they will always remember how they felt.
Getting in the right state doesn’t mean showing up as fake / hokey / a salesperson selling investors a “great” deal at an “even better” price. Rather, it means showing up as the best version of yourself.
This is the version of yourself where you feel excited about your business, your leadership, and your accomplishments – and can spread that genuine enthusiasm to others.
Do whatever it takes to get in the best mental state you can – exercise, meditation, music, whatever works for you.
In the end, you’ll know you’re in this state when you feel great in your body, your mind is generally still or kicking up positive thoughts, and you’re excited about these conversations.
Also remember to protect your foundation – do your best to guard your sleep, eat right, take restorative breaks between work, etc. This is good hygiene not just for fundraising but for life.
Simplicity
Don’t underestimate the power of keeping a pitch short, simple, and sweet.
Great biz dev executives understand that each part of a sales process requires just enough to get them to the next part. Apply this to fundraising.
Know what is most exciting and unique about your business and highlight that.
Keep your most compelling, data driven slides to make your point – using the pyramid principle for your slide headlines and content.
Ruthlessly discard everything else – throw it in an appendix, or better yet, in a well organized data room.
Assume your investors are not experts. In fact, assume they may not have read the deck or even visited your website. Walk them through the story from ground zero.
Anticipate areas where investors may have concerns and have simple talking points. Address them honestly. But keep driving home your key points – what’s great about your business, market, team, and traction.