What Are Investors Really Looking for at Seed, Series A, and Series B?
What should founders be trying to prove to potential investors? It depends on the stage.
When our portfolio founders are getting ready to raise their Series A, we often remind them: Don’t use the same pitch deck structure as your seed round. You’re a different company now, and you’re selling something different.
At Seed, you’re selling the team.
At Series A, you’re selling the product & market demand.
At Series B, you’re selling the growth engine.
In other words, Who, What, How:
🌱 At pre-seed/seed, it’s all about getting conviction in the *Who*. What about your background and experience makes you the best person to build this specific company? What’s your unique insight that others are missing? Are you commercially savvy? What motivates you? How resilient are you? Are you obsessed with the right thing? Are you better suited than others to build fast in this space? How have you demonstrated focus and healthy obsession with the problem space?
🪴 By Series A, the *What* should be more impressive. What’s the product you’ve built, and what makes it defensible? What sales motions are consistently working? What’s your ICP and why? For most types of businesses, Series A is when you can start showing that you’ve significantly multiplied your revenue since the last raise, it’s trending up MoM, and capital is the fuel to go even faster.
🌳 By Series B, you need to convince investors that you can transition from a scrappy startup to a serious operation. Demand is outpacing supply, and you need capital to scale what’s already working. Here, investors need to trust that you understand the *How*. How are you going to deliver the same customer experience at scale? How are you deciding which roles and how fast to hire, and how are you instilling or screening for your core values? How big can revenue get? How fast? How does that influence your exit or IPO possibilities?
You might only have 3 slides or so to keep someone’s attention. Don’t bury the lede, but do find the right one. Leading with progress > 10 intro slides.
