RTC #42: Pitching VCs: 5 simple things many founders overlook

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📢 My favorite links of the week

👉 Build your budgeting and forecasting model in 20 minutes (Link) -
My favorite this week

👉 This is the most impressive LinkedIn profile (Link)

👉 Top 5 predictors for startup success (Link)

👉 Startup running out of money…VCs give advice (Link)

👉 Here’s the formula for 90% of VC-backed AI startups in 2024 (Link)

👉 “Operator VCs”…shaking up the industry (Link)

👉 If Steve Jobs had to pitch to VCs about the original iPhone 😂 (Link)

📖 Report of the week

How will we work in the future?

• The top 100 venture-backed companies building the future of work

Pitching VCs involves many things you can’t control.

We discussed some of them a few weeks ago.

And there are things that you can (and should) control.

We will discuss them today.

These are hands-on and practical tips.

Some might seem obvious, but trust me…it looks like there are not for all founders.

So be happy if you do it anyway and keep doing it.

1. File type of your pitch deck

One thing is for sure: NEVER send a PowerPoint file.

When it comes to the PDF vs. DocSend discussion, investors are split into two camps.

Investors advocating for PDFs argue that they want to capture a version of the deck at that moment (and not just a version updated on an ongoing basis), making it easier to compare against future versions.

Personally, I do not consider myself part of either of the camps but have to admit that I slightly feel it is more professional to receive a link (versus a file).

If you ask me I would recommend sending the PDF via a link.

2. File name of your pitch deck

Follow these simple rules:

• Includes your company name, ideally at the beginning

• Should not be too long

• If you include a date I would suggest using the “mm/yy” format (and make sure to update it on an ongoing basis during your fundraising process)

3. Email address sending the pitch deck

Use a company domain email address, not a personal one.

You are still in stealth mode? It doesn't matter, you should have secured the company domain and invested the money to have a proper business email.

4. Email subject line

The perfect subject line is a craft on its own (at least for me 🙂).

It has to fulfill two things: grab attention and provide context at a glance.

Ideally, you manage to take the most saleable element of your business pitch and distill it into a few words.

How to do this? Have a look here.

5. LinkedIn consistency

LinkedIn is the first “go-to” when checking out founders before meeting them.

Make sure you are consistent and professional.

This includes:

• Anyone you list as a core team member shows it on their LinkedIn profile (I know this is more tricky when you’re still in a very early stage).

• Profile picture and bio reflect professionalism - no outdated or incomplete profiles.

• Check for consistency across all social channels - no inconsistent titles or descriptions across profiles.

📅 Calendar of main VC events in October

“Networking is a lot like nutrition and fitness: we know what to do, the hard part is making it a top priority”

October
• Sifted Summit | London, UK | Oct 2-3
• World Summit AI | Amsterdam, The Netherlands | Oct 9-10
• SaaStock | Dublin, Irland | Oct 14-16
• The Business Booster | Barcelona, Spain | Oct 16-17
• TechCrunch Disrupt | San Francisco, US | Oct 28-30
• 0100 Conference Mediterranean | Milan, Italy | Oct 28-30

Thank you for reading today’s issue. If you enjoyed it, leave a like or comment, and share it with your friends. Follow me on LinkedIn to never miss updates again.

Have a great week,
Stephan 👋

Issue #42 | 1 October