How to pitch to investors

We have seen many startup pitches. This guide collects what works, from our own experience and from well-known investors.

BADideas.fund

We have seen many startup pitches. This guide collects what works, from our own experience and from well-known investors.

Craft Your Storyline

People remember stories better than numbers. Start your pitch with one. (data storytelling)
Describe your customer's problem and how your startup solves it
Check out Simon Sinek's TED Talk on "Start with Why"
Learn from this blog post on storyboarding your pitch deck
Present your traction effectively: read this article

Pitch Deck Essentials

Introduction & High-Level Pitch: Say what the company does in one sentence. Include a simple graphic that describes your business model.
Problem: Describe the pain of your customer, explain how it's currently addressed, and show why existing market offerings are inadequate.
Solution: Highlight your unique value proposition, showcase product features that address the pain, and provide evidence of traction (testimonials, customer numbers, etc.).
Market Size: Communicate both the bottom-up (how many people you can sell to) and top-down (total market revenue) market size.
Business Model: Explain your customer acquisition costs, delivery costs, and revenue (or lifetime value). Make sure your bottom-up market sizing multiplied by your business model equals your top-down market size.
Proprietary Tech/Expertise: Highlight your unique advantages, whether it's IP, special access to customers, lower costs, higher prices, or something else.
Competition: Explain why your customers choose you over others. Avoid feature comparison grids and focus on customer testimonials or visual representations.
Marketing Plan: Show who your customers are, how you reach them and what has worked so far.
Team: Show the team has the skills this stage needs, and what each person and the team have already done.
Money / Milestones: Communicate the milestone you will achieve with the investment and how it will take risk out of the business. Never put valuation metrics on the slide.

Preparing Your Elevator Pitch

Create a 1-sentence pitch using this Madlibs template: https://fi.co/madlibs
Use your 1-sentence pitch for introductions and 30-second pitches to investors, partners, customers, or recruits
For investors, follow up with a crisp statement of your traction

Pitching Dos and Don'ts

✅ DO iterate and practice your pitch

✅ DO keep animations simple or avoid them altogether

✅ DO think of your pitch as an advertisement

✅ DO use screenshots instead of live demos

✅ DO convey passion and excitement

✅ DO finish with a specific ask

⛔ DON'T use animated transitions between slides

⛔ DON'T deep dive into the product during the pitch

⛔ DON'T read your slides; use them as backup and provide context or stories

Extra Tips for Pitch Events

Leave "openings" in your presentation to prompt questions from judges, allowing you to explain intriguing aspects of your business
Give the pitch many times, get feedback and change it each time

Additional tips on slide design

Keep your pitch deck basic and light on details to capture investor attention.
Follow the 1 slide=1 message rule and spell out the message in the headline.
Use minimal text, no more than 1 datapoint and/or sentence per slide.
Split content into Headline 1, Headline 2 and body text, each having a distinct font size from bigger to smaller. Ensure consistent font sizes throughout the deck.
Include your company website, ideally as a hyperlink, and contact information on every slide.

Extra resources:

Send the deck. We read every one.

Yes or no in five business days, with the reason either way.