Dear SaaStr: What advice would you give to an entrepreneur who has never pitched before but has a pitch scheduled with venture capitalists?
A few basic tips for your first VC pitch:
#1. Practice With The Best You Can
Find a founder that you know that has raised VC capital and pitch them first. Ask them for all the critical feedback. And incorporate almost all of it.
#2. Make the First Slide / Opener Sell It All
VCs see so many pitches, you tune out quickly. Make the first slide so compelling, anyone would want to invest just based on it alone.
#3. Lead With Your Top Metrics
Whatever is growing at top tier rates, revenue, users, payments, etc. — lead with that.
#4. Don’t Hide The Less Good Stuff. Just Don’t Lead With It
If you don’t have a full team, if last month was slow, don’t lead with it ;). But don’t hide it. In the end, if you hire the tougher stuff, it will likely blow up on you. VCs don’t expect perfection. It’s a start-up. What they are looking for is some show at hypergrowth.
#5. Practice More So You Aren’t Nervous
If you’re worried about the meeting, practice more. VCs want to see founders that know their stuff.
#6. Listen, Don’t Just Talk
Don’t just rush through your slides and presentation. Slow it down a bit and listen. The good questions, answer in real time. The rest, answer at the end. But listen. Different VCs will care about different things. Listening makes sure you tailor the pitch. Not just deliver a generic one.
#7. Make the Product Demo Truly Great
This is the age of AI. We all expect great product demos today. Yours should be, too.
#8. Realize It Might Not Be Now
You may not have the numbers, the growth, the team to raise VC today. Just realize it. Do the pitches, taking the meetings. And listen. It may take 100+ meetings to raise the first angel round. It often does. But also realize it may be less a No than You’re Not Ready or Quite There Today. Ask folks that know and listen.
And a bit more here:
