The team, the team, the team. Ask any investor what's important in an investment decision and that's what you'll hear at every stage of the raise. That's because this is what investors are thinking :
Pre-seed Should we bet on these guys?
Seed- Can these guys run a business ?
Series A Can these guys sell the product ?
Series B Can these guys grow the revenue?
So it's about you as a leader as much as the idea. It's often a bit of a fight to convince founders this is true. They focus on the idea, product or service.
If they refer to themselves at all it is likely to be a hurried Team Slide at the end of the deck with a shortened bio under their pic.
What really needs to happen is that you ask yourself what makes you more able to make this business happen than anyone else. Andrew Chen, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz calls this the "earned secret" behind your idea.
Once you have worked that out here's how you do it in a investment pitch:
Show them who you really are - They're picking this up anyway from the second they see you. Make sure you show them the person you are intentionally. They are looking for
values and leadership style all the time. Do not show off but do not be shy either.
Show them you can run a business - what it is in your experience, knowledge, skills, and network that makes you able to do this.
Show them how you can meet the challenges of the stage - manage people, create the product, sell it, grow the revenue
So no more hurried Team Slide at the end. You need to be working hard to show who you are throughout the pitch and in all elements of it which means:
Delivery How you say it
Messaging What you say
Visuals What you show them - the deck.
One of my favourite questions to founders is "Which of these is it easiest to get right ?"
You'll find the answer in a future blog post. 😊
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