When it comes to pitching your business opportunity to potential investors, you might think that the most important thing you need is a good pitch deck. But an investor deck that anticipates your ideal investors’ needs and interests is just one element of a successful pitch.

Your investor deck is like your resume in a job interview process: it gives the reader important information about the opportunity to help them decide whether or not they’d like to talk with you about it in person. The purpose of a pitch deck, and a resume, is to get your foot in the door and act as a reference for the conversation you will have once you get there. That conversation is your investor pitch.
If you’re putting all of your effort and time into creating a deck, then you’re missing some really key elements, elements that can make or break your chances of getting that coveted second meeting with a potential investor.
Key elements of a great investor pitch include:
- adapting your message to your audience
- being concise so that your listeners can take in the most important information
- delivering an engaging pitch that keeps people listening
- staying focused and on-message while meeting with potential investors
- exuding confidence & credibility in Q&A
First, let’s look at the content of your investor pitch. Make sure your message is tailored to and directed toward your ideal investors, and make sure both your visuals and your delivery are focused on that message. Your slides should be clean, concise, and simple: a helpful visual for investors to refer to while you’re talking and think, “Yeah, I see what you mean.”
Even more important than what’s on your pitch deck slides is what you’re actually saying while presenting them. Investors invest in people, not pitch decks, so you want investors to be listening to you, connecting with you, and remembering you, not just your slides. That’s why it’s essential that your message be clear, concise, and tailored to that investor or investor group.
Next, let’s talk about delivery. An engaging delivery is the key to holding the attention of your audience of potential investors and assuring they really take in your message, consider your opportunity, and remember you when it comes time to take action. You might have the most incredible business opportunity with the most beautiful tech, but if you pitch it in a monotone voice with no enthusiasm or dynamism, your audience will stop listening. Not only will they not take in the info you put so much work into collecting, they won’t ask you for another meeting.
Another key part of your investor pitch is the Q&A. This is an essential step in establishing trust and credibility with potential investors that can really make or break a pitch. This is your opportunity to have a real conversation with investors and establish a human connection beyond the pitch deck.
Every interaction you have with a potential investor can be considered part of your pitch. That’s why I started training founders to deliver impactful investor pitches: I saw a lot of skill gaps in the interactions I had with founders as an angel investor. Somebody might have a great deck, but a poor delivery; somebody might be enthusiastic, but have a cluttered, confusing deck; somebody might nail their pitch but then go off track on Q&A.
I cover all of those elements in the Pitch 4 Impact pitch training program, because not only do I want to help founders like you succeed, I want to help investors like me experience better quality pitches!
To sum up: a successful pitch to potential investors is not just about having a great pitch deck. While a clear and concise pitch deck is important, it is just one element of a successful pitch. A great investor pitch requires tailoring your message to your audience, being concise, staying focused and on-message, and exuding enthusiasm, confidence and credibility.