How to win over startup investors: tips for 2024

In 2024, investable startups hinge on the strength of their founding teams. Investors seek teams that can execute effectively, adapt to market changes, and collaborate well and solve real problems.

A strong team usually has at least two co-founders and focuses on solving problems, not just following trends (ESG/AI/Web, etc.). Having a long-term vision and a product ready for the market shows a team’s potential for lasting success.

Yana Abramova

Founder and General Partner,

Pretiosum Ventures

Connect with as many people as possible and be honest and vocal on social media. Don’t be afraid to talk about what you’re doing, even if you’re afraid it might go wrong. Even if everything doesn’t work out perfectly, it could still attract helpful attention and lead to suggestions of other people to meet.

Remember, all of these things take time. Be in spaces that are most relevant to you. For your first investor, you need someone who really gets your product and the problem you’re trying to solve.

Katie Ramsey

AI and fintech angel investor,

When you reach out to me with a cold email, here’s what I’m looking for: that you did your research on my fund.

Here’s my top tip: Try writing up your own investment memo. After a call, analysts and associates will need to write up an investment memo on your business and outline whether and why you are a good fit for the VC’s strategy, overall portfolio direction, and LPs’ mandate.

By doing this groundwork for them, you’re not only showing that you’ve done your homework, but you’re also increasing the chances of your business being accurately represented in internal discussions. That’s the kind of proactive approach I like to see in founders.

Eva Dobrzanska

Startup Fundraising Consultant,

Fundraising Playbooks

No guide to raising in 2024 would be complete without the AI piece. Don’t say you’re using it if you’re not, but if you are, today it needs to be front and centre of your deck. Normally my advice would be to focus on the problem that you solve and then how you solve it. But right now, it’s still probably easier to raise if you have AI as the centrepiece of your tech solution, and so it’s worth pushing the “how” a bit closer to the front of your pitch than I would normally advise.

Marc Cohen

Partner,

unbundled vc

With solo founders, the emphasis will be really strong on the founder. But I always suggest that if you are a solo founder, you outline your immediate hiring plan on the team slide, as evidence that you’ve conducted research on what types of roles you’re looking to hire, and where your own skills shortages are.

As long as founders recognise where their gaps are, and they know where to look for relevant people to fill them in, that’s a big green flag when it comes to executability and the strength of the team.

Eva Dobrzanska

Startup Fundraising Consultant,

Fundraising Playbooks

I want to see a diversity of voices on your board – not to tick a box, but because it makes good business sense. When we look at addressable markets, they are so much more diverse than they ever used to be in the space of consumer products and in terms of who is holding wealth.

Diversity of board is a need-to-have because your user base will more diverse than you might assume – and that could mean you’re overlooking a gap that you wouldn’t have if you were listening to a plurality of voices.

Katie Ramsey

AI and fintech angel investor,

🚩 When I look at a deck, that first slide should tell me if SEIS or EIS is available. If I talk to you as a founder and you don’t know what that is, it’s a red flag. I expect you to have your Advance Assurances in place.

🚩 When I look at finance models, I’m looking at the spend. Normally it’s going up, the money in the bank’s going down, then this next investment round injects cash, and then that cycle repeats. But I’m expecting to see a line in there for R&D Tax Credits. I’m expecting to see money coming back into the business, because that gives you longer runway. If you’ve not put that in and you’ve not heard of R&D tax credits, the question I ask is why?

Eamon Tuhami

Angel investor and entrepreneur,

Hwyl

✅When it comes to financial forecasts, what I’m interested in is the logical process behind the assumptions. I want to know if you’re thinking how much your salespeople will cost to get into a particular geography or market that you’re trying to get into. If founders are considering all the angles and factoring in the fact that prices go up and down, accounting for inflation and interest rates, that’s generally quite a positive sign as well in the early days.

🚩As a personal preference, I’m not impressed when founders say they need £50k or so to get a proof of concept built and then they’ll use that to get a pre-seed round. There are so many no-code tools out there. It’s that easy now to do something of a basic quality that could get you to proof of concept stage with low capital requirement

Jonny Clark

Angel investor,

Liverpool Slush'd

✅ I always ask about go-to-market strategy because it shows how well a founder knows their customer. There’s a saying: a first-time founder focuses on the product, while a second-time founder focuses on distribution. This is crucial. A good strategy explains how the product will gain market share and become a sustainable company.

It should start with a clear unique value proposition, addressing specific needs and pain points, and showing why customers would choose your product. You need to explain what sets you apart and gives you an advantage competitors can’t easily copy. Explain how you’ll keep this advantage over time, whether through special technology, unique partnerships, a strong brand, or great customer experience.

🚩 A few red flags I can think of:

– Outsourced tech team
– Overcomplicated cap tables
– Part-time founders
– “There is no competition” slide
– M&A mention directly in the deck
– Businesses with little tech involved, aka “services” businesses

Yana Abramova

Founder and General Partner,

Pretiosum Ventures

✅ Your assessment of the addressable market should be thoroughly thought through, including what you can realistically achieve from it and how you can convert it into revenue. Having an existing customer with feedback or a use case is really valuable – or a video showing your product in action.

Katie Ramsey

AI and fintech angel investor,

Keep your deal momentum going

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✅ Set vesting schedules through essential team documents
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A common mistake I see across deals is that they don’t have a data room ready, which is so easy to rectify. Not having a data room really slows down the speed of conversations.

Founders need to be aware that investors and VCs have multiple conversations happening simultaneously. When one startup is in due diligence, there are usually two or three others competing for the same investment spot.

Eva Dobrzanska

Startup Fundraising Consultant,

Fundraising Playbooks

I expect you to have a data room ready with key documents. The hygiene factors for me include having your basic organisational structure in place. That’s why I like referring people to SeedLegals because they make it extremely simple and straightforward.

Another hygiene factor is if there are three founders, for example, and they’ve been in business for a year, I expect them to have agreed on a vesting schedule with each other and on what happens if one of them leaves. If the startup has had help and given equity away, it should be on a vesting schedule.

These hygiene factors are not sexy; they won’t increase the chances of getting investment. But not having them in place has the potential to become a limiting factor.

Eamon Tuhami

Angel investor and entrepreneur,

Hwyl