In your pitch deck for equity financing, prioritize: 1. Exit Strategy: Clarify exit options for returns. 2. Traction: Show evidence of market demand. 3. CAC/LTV: Demonstrate customer acquisition efficiency and long-term value. 4. Scalability: Explain how growth won’t linearly increase costs. 5. IP Rights: Detail patents or proprietary tech. 6. Risks: Acknowledge potential setbacks with mitigation plans. 7. Social Proof: Cite endorsements or expert opinions. 8. Current Investors: Name-drop existing backers. 9. Investment Terms: Specify the deal clearly. 10. Investor Goals: Align your pitch with investor strategies. Convince investors of your potential for exponential returns.

This is your "Ask". When pitching you will often hear the goal referred to as an "ask", with a subtle but very important difference; it take away the guess work. A goal is something you put up for yourself, an ask is something you ask your listener. Do you what raise 100k in funding - ask for 100k in funding. Do you what an investor with retail experience - ask for retail experience. The key point here is that you get an immediate and actionable response. "Yes, I will fund you but only at 50k." "Ok, what can we do to make it 100k?" ... and boom - action plan right there.

Always start with asking your (potential) customer for feedback on you solution and what that is worth to them. Way too often I meet (potential) entrepreneurs who "sit" on their idea, never getting started, because they need to perfect their product before showing customers. Not only is this costly, but often straight up counterproductive for development, since you might (will) be focusing on features no-one asked for. Instead, ask the customer what features they want and develop those. Heres the kicker; you dont need to explain *how* youre doing it! Focus on the problem and the effects of your solution making that problem go away. At that point you can even ask the client what $$$ they are willing to pay.

Functionality over features is pivotal in explaining your product. Customers dont care about how great your product is, if it isnt great for them! It need to be relevant I really, really dont care how many pixels my TV has, I wanna know if I can watch the latest Netflix shows without lag or buffering, with a clear and nice image. With this in mind you need to make sure youre demoing your product in a setting/environment that your specific customer can relate to - something that feels familiar to them. If your new POS machine also does accounting and youre demoing it to a controller, start with accounting stuff, not the resolution of the scanner. You only get one chance for a first impression, make sure youre demoing the relevant stuff.

Revenue, user growth, partnerships, awards, etc. are great but please these come later in a startups life. Its often very hard for early stage startups to show traction when jut starting out. But please do not forget yourselves and your team! There is a reason you, and the constellation of mind you've formed, came together just now, at this moment and place in time. Perhaps you've worked in this field for a few years and have toiled with the problem already? Perhaps the market opened up for you to break away from and start your own? Or this is a clear continuation of your masters thesis? All of the above is relevant traction! It might not be sales, but it shows that youre not new in the game!

The hockey stick - we've all seen it, we are all a bit uneased by it, but it needs to be there. When presenting a hockey stick you need to be able realistically back it up. This presentation rests on more or less everything already presented in your pitch so far; your market research, customer knowledge, price point and go to market expansion. Are you raising money; when, for what and how is that going to affect results? If youre able to reliably tell investors already today what youre expecting them to chip in again in 3 years (possibly even to what equity) then youre really mastering the class. This shows a great understanding of your business and shows that you understand what youre doing!

Always end with an ASK! Why are you here? What do you want from the listener - be specific and direct! And always make your ask an open-ended question. Open-ended questions start with “Why?” “How?” and “What?” They encourage a full answer, rather than the simple “yes” or “no” response that is usually given to a closed-ended question. "When should we schedule our next meeting?" is in this a much better ask than "do you want another meeting?". Naturally your ask will need som discussion. As such, make sure that you set aside a minimum of 5-10 min at the end. Perhaps you dont need it -great- but if running out of time and missing you ask could be the last you see of this person. Never exit a meeting with out having answered your ask!