Key takeaways
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- A successful pitch to investors combines a compelling story, clear data, and a strong market position.
- Preparation, data-driven information, and a memorable opener — essential factors for a professional and memorable pitch.
- A solid MVP (minimum viable product) showcases your idea’s potential and early traction, giving investors a glimpse of market fit and future scalability.
What to include in your investor pitch
A stellar pitch deck should give investors a well-rounded understanding of your business plan, product features, and the market you want to target. Just make sure to make it snappy. In 2023, investors spent only 2 minutes and 12 seconds reviewing a pitch deck, so make it count. Here are a few points that have to be for a good investor pitch.
Executive summary
Summarize your business plan on one page: what your idea is about, what products you plan to offer, as well as your USP (unique selling proposition), business model, and competitive advantage.
The four key components of an executive summary
Problem statement
Clearly define the specific problem your business is addressing, how it impacts your target customers, and how your products will solve it.
Your solution
Lay out a rough sketch of your product: what features you want to include and how customers will find and access it. If you already have an MVP, it would be an extra point.
MVP, or minimum viable product, is the initial version of the product reduced only to the key features
Market size and opportunity
Include information about the size of your target market and the growth potential. Make sure that your insights are not just words and that they are supported by data analytics.
Revenue model
Outline your monetization strategy, pricing strategy, and how you plan to generate sustainable revenue both short- and long-term.
Marketing strategy
Share what marketing channels or tactics you plan to use to acquire and retain customers. If you already have any partnerships secured — mention them to investors.
Competition analysis
Know your competitors and what makes your product different. Investors want to hear that you did your research and that you know how your product is better than existing alternatives.
The SWOT model (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) is one of the frameworks you can use to analyze your competitor’s product
Budget and financial projections
Present a pitch deck with a clear financial plan, including your budget, projected revenue, expenses, and cash flow over the next 3–5 years. For starters, you can check out our startup budget template.
Our template is very minimal, which makes it easy to modify during the calculation process — the perfect starting point for any product owner
Funding requirements
Specify how much money you seek and how you plan to use the capital to achieve your business goals. Make sure it’s clear to potential investors what business areas will get a boost first: product development, marketing, or operations.
Exit strategy
Describe your long-term vision for the company and potential exit opportunities, such as an acquisition or IPO — it’s crucial to paint a picture of how the investors can achieve a favorable return.
Exit is an inevitable step of startup development, so investors need to plan their strategy in advance
How to pitch to investors your business idea
1. Tell a compelling story
Think of an elevator pitch when you have a concise amount of time until the investor gets to their floor. According to TechCrunch, investors spend an average 2 minutes and 42 seconds reviewing a pitch deck — that is how much time you have to capture their attention and make your idea memorable. Use your storytelling skills and create a relatable narrative that describes a real problem that you’re solving and shows investors the personal drive behind your work.
Pro tip: Hook investors with an intriguing opener. For example, the founders of Square, a card reader startup, opened their pitch meetings by asking VCs for their credit cards, which they would swipe through the small reader and show how quickly you can make a payment.
2. Know your numbers
Much more than inspiration, investors want to see data. Be ready to answer questions on your product’s cost, potential revenue, market size, and growth projections. Show confidence in your numbers and emphasize data points that support your startup’s potential for profitability. Preparing financial data, even rough estimates, signals that you understand both the passion and practicality of running a business.
Pro tip: Keep a cheat sheet with key numbers to review and answer questions on the spot.
3. Define your UVP (unique value proposition)
Your UVP is what makes your product stand out among alternatives. It could be a specific feature, an innovative design, or a unique approach to communicating with the audience. The UVP answers the key question investors have in mind: “Why would I choose this startup over others?”
Pro tip: A well-worded UVP fits in 1–2 sentences. Try it on some friends and family — will they understand your uniqueness from that sentence without the context?
UVP addresses these three factors
4. Demonstrate market understanding
Investors do not always have expertise in the niche you’re entering, so they want to make sure you do. Show that you’ve researched market trends, potential demand, and the dynamics that could impact your business. Providing a clear market landscape helps investors see where your product fits and how it can succeed in the long term.
Pro tip: Focus on one or two key market statistics to keep your explanation focused and impactful.
5. Show your competitive advantage
Pitch to investors not only how you stand out but also how you plan to maintain that competitive edge. Maybe you have an innovative technology, exclusive partnerships secured, or a patent — whatever will help you stay relevant even if the market gets crowded.
Pro tip: Think about your competitive advantage in terms of barriers to entry — what would make it hard for competitors to replicate?
6. Present your team’s expertise
For early-stage investments, the team structure and skill set are as crucial as the product itself. Briefly introduce your core team members and any relevant experience or achievements they have had. If your team has a unique mix of technical, industry, or leadership experience, highlight it to show that your startup is built by experts.
Pro tip: Don’t shy away from big names — if your team members worked for Google, Amazon, Revolut, or other tech giants in the past, it’s important to mention they have this expertise.
7. Outline your business model
Explain how your business plans to make money: revenue streams, pricing strategies, and any subscription models. Investors want a clear view of how you’ll generate profit and sustain growth over time. A strong model adds credibility to your vision and shows you have a realistic plan for achieving financial success.
Pro tip: Make it easy to visualize by summarizing it in bullet points on your slide.
8. Explain your market strategy
A good idea alone without a solid launch plan isn’t enough to pitch to investors and secure funding. Describe your approach to reaching customers, whether through digital ads, partnerships, or other channels.
Pro tip: If you’ve already started testing some marketing strategies — mention the results.
There are many strategies to enter the market when there is demand
9. Share your traction and milestones
Demonstrating early traction supports your marketing strategy and shows investors that you have demand. This could include prototype tests, social media engagement, initial sales, or partnerships. Even if you’re still in the early stages, any positive indicators suggest demand and commitment to growth.
Pro tip: Include at least one metric — whether users, downloads, or sales — that shows early adoption and potential for growth.
10. Detail your funding needs and use
Be transparent about how much funding you need and how precisely it will be used. Break down the budget into categories, such as development, marketing, operations, or team expansion. This will show investors that you have already thought about your strategy for using the capital effectively.
Pro tip: Be prepared to explain why each budget item is necessary and why you can’t budge on any.
11. Address potential risks
Be realistic: every venture has risks, and investors appreciate honesty. Mention the main risks that could impact your business — like market changes or technology advancements — and briefly explain your mitigating strategy.
Pro tip: Too many risks can overwhelm investors. Focus on one main issue and discuss how you’re ready to tackle it.
12. Present your growth roadmap
Outline a roadmap for the next few years. Briefly describe how you want to scale up, improve the product, expand the market, or hire new team members. A roadmap helps investors visualize their long-term vision and understand how their investment will contribute to future success.
Pro tip: Focus on the big picture and include major milestones rather than small steps.
A development team can help you create a project roadmap from a tech POV — what new features you want to introduce
4 tips on how to network with investors
Having a great pitch deck is only half of a job — as a startup owner, you need to network and connect with people who can become potential investors. This usually means doing a lot of research, getting out, and practicing your communication skills. Here’s how you can network your way up to investments:
Find the right investors
First, you need to decide who you’re looking for and what type of support you’re seeking. For instance, venture capitalists typically invest larger sums of money with the expectation of higher returns. At the same time, angel investors tend to invest smaller amounts but can have time to help you with connections or expert advice.
Once you determine what type of investor is right for your startup, you can identify places where you can connect and network with them, for example:
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- Conferences and forums
- Meetups
- Online platforms
- Crowdfunding platforms
- Startup combinators
Do your research
Before you approach an investor, put your investigator hat on, try to Google your potential contacts and check their social media, focusing on their main interests and recent investments. You want to avoid a situation where you approach an investor who just backed a similar product a couple of months ago or recently put a huge sum of money into a prospective product and now puts off the deals for the time being.
Plan your approach
When you reach out to a potential investor with a brief, a tailored message that shows you’ve done your research is mandatory. Mention any shared interests, people you both know, or recent investments, and don’t tip-toe around the subject — keeping it direct will show that you value the investor’s time.
Don’t forget to follow up
If you don’t hear back after a meeting, follow up after a week or two with a polite reminder. If you made any progress in the meantime or secured a new partnership — you can also share that update to spark some interest.
Wrapping up
An investor-winning pitch requires a blend of storytelling, market awareness, and financial insight to convey value. Purrweb can help you with the technical aspects of your idea and MVP development — a way to test your hypothesis on real-world customers, visualize your product, and have something to show to the investors.
In the past, we developed an MVP for a healthcare startup with a $1,500 budget that secured $400K in funding afterward and a photographer marketplace that raised $250K, thanks to our work.
