7 Non-Obvious Fundraising Lessons On Pitching
Read time: 4 min
Let me share some of the non-obvious pitching tips I’ve learned from being a 3-time founder and an investor in over 40 companies.
1. Don’t say sentences that don’t have numbers in them.
Don't Say: "We're seeing a lot of interest in using our green cement."
Say: "Market demand for our eco-friendly cement has increased by 22% over the past quarter, with the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by 10,000 tons."
Don't Say: "Our new batteries are lasting a lot longer."
Say: "The average discharge duration of our new long-duration batteries has improved from 8 hours to 12 hours, increasing the energy storage capacity by 50%."
2. Diagrams communicate 10x more
You only get a half hour with VCs.
And really, you only have 5 minutes to grab them.
One diagram can do the work of many minutes of talking.
Example?
Here is one I often use to pitch Climate Insiders.
3. Don’t talk about your passion – show it
“We are going to make this happen, because this is my life and I know the market better than anybody.“
Project your passion during your pitch.
Words alone aren’t always enough.
Show that you’re a full-blooded person that’s going to drive the business forward through strength of will.
4. Only bring your best presenters
Who to bring to the meeting can often be an emotional thing among you and your co-founders.
Trust me, the investors don’t care.
But you can’t bring the people who aren’t good at pitching to the meeting.
5. Make a deck specific to every VC
Change it a hundred times if necessary.
When I was fundraising, I had a different deck for every pitch I made to each investor.
At the end of my fundraising process, I would have 60 decks for 40 investors I was pitching.
Corporates care more about a strategic alliance, VCs care more about the big vision, and impact funds want to hear the impact story.
Show that you’re thoughtful about whom you want in this adventure.
6. Arm them with arguments to convince the other partners in the firm
The partner you connect with may get as little as 30 seconds at the weekly partner meeting to explain to the other partners why they should even discuss your company.
Make their job easier.
Use language to arm the partner you’re pitching to persuade everyone else at their firm.
7. Spend 1/3 presenting, 2/3 asking questions
If you have a half-hour meeting, you have about 8 minutes to get through your deck.
Investors want to understand what’s great about your business.
They’re hoping you’re the one they can invest in this year or this quarter.
Allow them to raise their most important points or objections.
8. Understand VC Psychology
There are three major things to know about being a VC that mold their psychology coming into these pitch meetings:
Deal quantity is a big part of being a VC. They process a huge number of companies.
VCs are constantly switching contexts. The number of directions a VC is being pulled in is significant.
VCs have to say no all the time, and it wears them down. Because a VC has to say no for 99%+ of the deals they see, their minds are being trained to be negative.
Over the years, this wears down on them and makes them cynical, distant, and cold.
Like with doctors, they keep their distance.
But keep in mind that they want to say yes. They want to believe in your company and invest, and they want to support the super Founders.
Conclusion
Don’t treat the VC like an authority figure.
Just because you’re asking them for money doesn’t mean they’re above you.
They’re peers of yours.
They’re just entrepreneurs trying to build their portfolios. That’s their entrepreneurial activity.
Treat them like equals and have the confidence to be fully authentic.
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I absolutely love your article! Thank you for sharing these great suggestions. From experience I found #1 the most impactful: somehow talking numbers completely transforms how people perceive your competence in the field. It’s definitely worth spending time to research relevant statistics and sprinkling them into the mix ✨💡🙌
Hi Yoann,
Your emails are always great! Thank you for taking the time doing them.
Love this one!
Already shared.
Thank you again!
Agneta