What should I bring to the fundraising consultation session?

Whatever you have. A deck, a model, a list of target investors, or just the questions keeping you up at night. You do not need anything polished. The rougher the better, because that is where the useful work is. Hashem will send a couple of short prompts when you book so he comes in prepared.

Can I invite my team or co-founder to the session?

Yes, please do. Some of the best sessions include a co-founder or a key team member. Bring whoever owns the raise with you, because alignment in the room makes the call far more valuable. Just let us know how many to expect when you book.

Who is this fundraising consultation actually for?

Early-stage founders raising pre-seed through Series A, or about to. If you are fundraising in the next six months and want an honest, specific read rather than generic advice, this is for you. If you are much later or just exploring, reach out and we will tell you honestly whether we can help.

What if I am not ready to raise yet?

That is often the best time to talk. We will map what readiness looks like for your stage and build the runway to get there, so you are not scrambling when the window opens. Plenty of founders book a call months before their raise.

How is this different from a generic startup advisor?

No templates and no recycled frameworks. Hashem has built companies and raised capital as a founder, and has sat on the investor side through FundrsVC. Every session is built around your numbers and your story, not a slide deck of best practices.

Is my startup information kept confidential?

Everything you share stays between us. Hashem works with a small number of founders at a time and treats your numbers, strategy, and cap table as strictly confidential. He is happy to sign an NDA if that helps you speak freely.

The 6 Ingredients of a Successful Elevator Pitch

The ability to strike a conversation and get your people interested in what you are saying does not happen by chance. The formula for creating this attention-grabbing pitch is something you need to understand and implement in your pitch.

The process of creating your elevator pitch takes into account vital points and factors around your startup. The result will either blow away the investors and have them asking for more detail or join the cringe-worthy lot that fails woefully at achieving their purpose. Note, your elevator pitch is not a sales pitch.

Creating an effective elevator pitch should include some key elements necessary for getting you the audience you need from your investors that will surely help to introduce your business at network events, trade shows, and individual audiences.

Let us dive into reimagining your elevator pitch, elements of elevator pitches, and common mistakes that people make with their elevator pitch and guide you to nail your next elevator pitch.

Reimagining the elevator pitch

An elevator pitch is not a sales pitch. An elevator pitch is a short 30-second to one-minute memorable description of your startup solution. It describes what you do and what you have to offer to your audience.

The goal of making an elevator pitch is to achieve one of two things. It is either to get the attention of your immediate audience or to earn a second conversation with your audience. The end goal in mind when giving your elevator pitch is to make your audience take action.

Your elevator pitch should never be about closing a deal or selling the product your startup is offering. Your pitch should help you get your audience curious enough to know more about your startup.

Having your elevator pitch ready at all times will save you from blabbing at networking events, warm calls, and short-time opportunities when you run into your target investor.

The ingredients of an elevator pitch

Creating an engaging, concise, and investor-friendly elevator pitch will have you ready to get the conversation going with anyone at all times. With good practice, you can turn this pitch into muscle memory and pitch at a comfortable pace.

1. Introduction

Introducing yourself and your startup to the person you are talking to is an essential part of your pitch. In one or two sentences, you should be able to state your name and your role at your startup.

Hello, I am Mark, the founder at ImagineVerse that provides unique NFTs for your metaverse identity.

It is a one-liner introduction that packs information about you, your job description at your startup, and what your startup does.

Try not to bore your audience with all the nitty-gritty details. They value their time, and so should you. Go straight to introducing yourself and your startup.

2. Problem definition

The next one to two sentences in your pitch should include the problem definition. This part of your pitch should center on the existing problem and why it is a problem that needs to be solved.

Your startup provides a value proposition, and your problem definition is a great way to grab your potential investor attention.

Creating NFTs that tell a story is a complex and difficult process for new users in the multiverse. Owning NFTs and making it available in the multiverse is an opportunity that should be available for all.

You should define the current problem your startup is solving in simple terms to your audience.

3. Value proposition

Now that you have the attention of your potential investor, it is time to show your startup value proposition. In one to three sentences, you should describe how your startup solution solves this problem for its current customers.

4. Explain your target market

Nothing beats a knowledgeable startup founder who knows the figures and metrics by heart. Interested investors want to know more about your target customers and how your solution is already solving their problems.

This part of your pitch should include the market segmentation and groups of people you consider your target market. You also want to mention the potential of the market when you scale your solution.

Using metrics and figures here is essential to visualize the size. To gain more interest, mention what your average customer already spends per year. Then make a realistic estimate of the market size of your target market.

ImagineVerse targets the vast majority of people going into the multiverse every day for one reason or another. They need to express their identity in the way they choose. Specifically, our target audience is the young generation within the age of 15 and 35 who are tech-savvy and active users in the multiverse.

5. Introduce your team

Now it is time for you to mention the team you have put together to make your startup idea a reality. A great idea is actionable only if the right team is available to build the startup.

This part of your pitch is crucial as it highlights your team strength and skill set necessary to make your company successful. Mentioning subject matter experts on the leadership team lends credibility and offers reassurance to potential investors.

My team is comprised of highly skilled and motivated NFT artists and top designers that have passion for giving life to NFTs. On the board are Elon Musk and Bill Gates, among others.

6. Round it up

This ingredient is often your call to action. It helps you highlight your business milestones, goals, and objectives. It includes upcoming targets, notable milestones your team already met, and upcoming milestones in your business schedule.

Finally, you want to make your startup as attractive as possible. Since your investor now understands what your startup is about, this call-to-action part is essential.

When you put all the above points together, you should be able to achieve the purpose of your elevator pitch: either get your potential investor to want to jump into business with you or set a second meeting immediately.

Common mistakes to avoid during an elevator pitch

Several startup founders fumble the ball when it comes to giving an elevator pitch. You do not want to pitch a cringe-worthy presentation to someone you want to notice your business.

1. Talk with no action

Startup founders have to show where they are in terms of building out their idea instead of telling their immediate audience what it will look like eventually.

Investors do not want to know only how much love your customers have for your product in your pitch. Customer retention and passion are essential, but investors would rather see the percentage of customers that return to make an additional purchase in a given period.

2. Pitch multiple ideas

Startup founders may have more than one idea they are working on at some point in their entrepreneurial journey. For different reasons, those thoughts may be valid and worthy of time and commitment.

However, you need to pitch one idea at a time to your investors. Otherwise, you risk confusing your audience and making them unsure which idea deserves their funds.

3. Push for a conclusion

Your elevator pitch should include a call to action ending where you hope to get a response from your potential investor. But one thing your investor may not appreciate is concluding for them or telling them what to think.

Avoid exaggerations when describing your startup goals and objectives. Present facts about your startup and let investors determine their interest.

4. Use different pitches for the same startup

Your pitch should be a simple presentation that states the reason for your startup and keeps it the same. It might be tempting to switch up your pitch when speaking with specific demographics, but you should resist that temptation.

Irrespective of the audience you are meeting, your motivation and intention should be the same. It is important to establish why you are starting your business and build your elevator pitch around it.

Practice your pitch

Your pitch is better committed to memory, so you can call it up when you need it. After working on your pitch with the pointers above, read and edit your pitch to sound as natural as possible.

Your elevator pitch should be neither uptight nor too informal. It should be conversational and engaging.

Practicing your pitch will help you understand where you need to pause for your audience to respond. It will also help you figure out how to continue the conversation if a specific question arises or your conversation takes a detour.

Hello, I am Mark, the founder at ImagineVerse that provides unique NFTs for your metaverse identity. Creating NFTs that tell a story is a complex and challenging process for new users in the multiverse. Owning NFTs and making them available in the multiverse is an opportunity that should be available for all.

Your confidence while delivering your pitch is another crucial aspect of your elevator pitch. As much as you have done the work of creating a great pitch, you need that confidence to show that you are sure of what you are saying.

Your 30-to-40-second pitch is a good length with all the information your audience needs to hear to make their decision. Putting up a confident presentation will give the extra reassurance that can help your potential investor decide in your favor.

Wrapping

Practicing enough awareness of your startup uniqueness will help you understand where your pitch should focus and how to perfect your pitch.

You should do demo pitches to figures, colleagues, and friends to give you constructive feedback on what they think about your pitch and where you can improve. You can also record yourself giving your pitch to analyze how to improve and pace your pitch for the best presentation delivery.