# What investors prescribe for a pitch

Sixty prescriptions from people who invest or run programs (YC, Paul Graham, NFX, First Round,
a16z, a16z crypto, a16z speedrun, Hustle Fund, Techstars, Colosseum and others), each as a short
quote with its source. Use it to see who says what, where they agree and where they contradict
each other, before you treat any one rule as settled. None of it is measured; for what has been
measured, see [library-investor-studies.md](library-investor-studies.md).

"Reported" means an editor or the firm's own summary relays the advice rather than the person
writing it. Quotes from videos come from auto-captions and keep their errors; "..." marks a cut.

## Consensus and conflict, by topic

- **One-liner:** say what the company does in one plain sentence, early (E01, E03). An analogy
  works if it is fresh, never a worn "Uber for X" (E02).
- **Cold email and intros:** everyone prefers a warm intro. Conflict on cold email: get introduced
  (E04) versus cold-email in parallel (E05). Format: about three sentences, a couple of KPIs, ask
  for the meeting (E06). Deck before the meeting: do not attach or send it (E07, E08) versus send a
  pre-read (E10, which promotes NFX's own tool).
- **First meeting:** pitch 8 to 10 minutes and talk the rest (E09); leave with an attempted close
  or a clear next step (E11); the CEO alone at the first meeting (E12).
- **Spoken pitch:** conflict on opening with the problem: start with the problem in hardware
  (E13) versus get straight to the point (E01) versus describe the change in the world (E14).
  Conflict on numbers: one in every sentence (E15) versus four or five at most (E16).
- **Q&A and objections:** do not bluff (E17). Conflict on raising risks yourself: yes, in the first
  ten minutes (E18, E20) versus no risk slide (E19).
- **Demo day:** one presenter (E21) versus a minute from a technical "expert witness" (E43); no
  video (E22); most of the prep goes to the first 30 seconds (E23); at Colosseum the pitch video
  is the first thing judges review and can decide the shortlist (E24).
- **Demo:** show it (E25) versus demos seldom work at demo day (E26). Colosseum changed from one
  video with the demo (E28, 2024) to a pitch without demo plus a separate technical video (E27,
  E29, 2025).
- **Deck content:** team at the end (E30) versus at the start (E41); competition throughout (E31)
  versus one slide near the end (E32); bottom-up market size (E33) versus no market size at all
  (E34).
- **Traction without revenue:** consensus that validation stands in for revenue: a specific LOI
  (E35), validation over small traction (E36), technical progress plus capital efficiency plus
  validated demand (E37), informal user feedback (E39). Raising on the vision and launching later
  is acceptable (E38).
- **Team:** sell why you are the team (E40); a credential counts only if it is domain expertise,
  which matters in complex or regulated spaces (E42).
- **Process and momentum:** in parallel (E52) versus slow and relationship-led, five firms at a
  time (E53). Avoid investors until you raise (E54) versus keep three to five warm (E55). The first
  term sheet speeds up the rest (E56).
- **Follow-up:** thank and close the open points (E58); update at every milestone (E59); weekly
  update videos at Colosseum (E60).

**Deep tech:** small rounds, each tied to a milestone (E57); an LOI or pre-sale in place of
revenue (E35); a non-expert version of the story (E44); shift between vision and detail (E45); a
technical FAQ before the partner meeting (E46); pull the investor into the vision for a moonshot
(E47); domain expertise in house (E42). The only hardware-specific source found (E13, E20) is
weak: self-promotional, no named author.

**Crypto:** explain new terms with concepts the audience already uses (E48); a different deck for
generalist and crypto-native investors (E49); no token bolted on for upside (E50); equity with
token rights rather than an early token commitment (E51). Colosseum's format: E24, E27-E29, E39,
E60.

**Not covered by any source found:** Lux, DCVC, Eclipse, Founders Fund and Shield publish theses,
not pitch tactics. Multicoin, Variant and Paradigm publish no pitch guide of their own. Nobody
addresses the "why blockchain?" question as pitch advice, or onchain metrics as traction.

## The prescriptions

| # | Topic | Prescription | Who, where, when | Conflicts with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E01 | one-liner | "There's no need to set up the problem, you can just get to the point." | Michael Seibel, YC, [How to Pitch Your Company](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4b-how-to-pitch-your-company), by 2020-06 | E13 |
| E02 | one-liner | "Draw analogies to things that the listeners already know or think they know." | James Currier, NFX, [The 23 Rules of Storytelling For Fundraising](https://www.nfx.com/post/23-rules-storytelling-fundraising), 2021-07-07 |  |
| E03 | one-liner | "You need to describe your company in a very pithy, condensed way, in one sentence." | a16z speedrun panel, [What We Look for In Applications](https://speedrun.substack.com/p/what-we-look-for-in-applications), 2026-01-14 |  |
| E04 | cold email, intros | "Do you have to be introduced? In phase 2, yes." | Paul Graham, [How to Raise Money](https://paulgraham.com/fr.html), 2013-09 | E05 |
| E05 | cold email, intros | "But, in parallel, while you're waiting for these intros, you should also strongly consider cold-emailing investors directly. It doesn't hurt." | Elizabeth Yin, Hustle Fund, [7 tips for cold-emailing investors](https://elizabethyin.com/2016/09/01/7-tips-for-cold-emailing-investors/), 2016-09-01 | E04 |
| E06 | cold email, intros | "~3 sentences with maybe a couple of KPIs as bullet points. Build rapport. Say something compelling. End with a call-to-action." | Elizabeth Yin, Hustle Fund, [7 tips for cold-emailing investors](https://elizabethyin.com/2016/09/01/7-tips-for-cold-emailing-investors/), 2016-09-01 |  |
| E07 | cold email, intros | "Don't attach a deck in the first-email" | Elizabeth Yin, Hustle Fund, [7 tips for cold-emailing investors](https://elizabethyin.com/2016/09/01/7-tips-for-cold-emailing-investors/), 2016-09-01 | E10 |
| E08 | cold email, intros | "Sometimes an investor will ask you to send them your deck ... before they decide whether to meet with you. I wouldn't do that." | Paul Graham, [How to Raise Money](https://paulgraham.com/fr.html), 2013-09 | E10 |
| E09 | first meeting | "You're pitching for 8-10 minutes and the rest of the time asking questions and discussing with the investor." | James Currier, NFX, [16 Non-Obvious Fundraising Lessons On Pitching](https://www.nfx.com/post/16-fundraising-lessons), 2019-11-01 |  |
| E10 | first meeting | BriefLink is NFX's own product. "Create a Brief on brieflink.com which includes your deck and the metadata about you that the VC needs" | James Currier, NFX, [16 Non-Obvious Fundraising Lessons On Pitching](https://www.nfx.com/post/16-fundraising-lessons), 2019-11-01 | E07, E08 |
| E11 | first meeting | "make sure you don't leave an investor meeting without an attempted close or at very minimum absolute clarity on next steps." | Geoff Ralston, YC, [A guide to seed fundraising](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4A-a-guide-to-seed-fundraising), 2016-01 |  |
| E12 | first meeting | "In most cases, the most balanced approach is to go CEO-only for the first meeting and include the full founding team for subsequent meetings." | NFX, [The Non-Obvious Guide to Fundraising](https://www.nfx.com/post/the-non-obvious-guide-to-fundraising), 2021-01-18 |  |
| E13 | spoken pitch | Hardware: "Most founders begin their pitch by introducing their product. In hardware, this is often a mistake. You need to start with the problem" | Tran.vc, no named author, [Pitching a Hardware Startup? Don't Make These Mistakes](https://www.tran.vc/pitching-a-hardware-startup-dont-make-these-mistakes/), 2025-08-08 | E01, E14 |
| E14 | spoken pitch | "Don't Always Start Your Narrative With “The Problem”" | James Currier, NFX, [The 23 Rules of Storytelling For Fundraising](https://www.nfx.com/post/23-rules-storytelling-fundraising), 2021-07-07 | E13 |
| E15 | spoken pitch | "When you're pitching, don't say a sentence without a number in it. Preferably 2 numbers." | James Currier, NFX, [16 Non-Obvious Fundraising Lessons On Pitching](https://www.nfx.com/post/16-fundraising-lessons), 2019-11-01 | E16 |
| E16 | spoken pitch | "But don't give them more than four or five numbers, and only give them numbers specific to you." | Paul Graham, [How to Present to Investors](https://paulgraham.com/investors.html), 2006-08, rev. 2010-09 | E15 |
| E17 | Q&A, objections | "the best response is neither to bluff nor give up, but instead to explain how you'd figure out the answer." | Paul Graham, [How to Convince Investors](https://paulgraham.com/convince.html), 2013-08 |  |
| E18 | Q&A, objections | "Know the objections and counter them early so you've got the most engaged audience possible." | First Round Review, quoting Brett Berson and Bill Trenchard, [The Fundraising Wisdom That Helped Our Founders Raise $18B in Follow-On Capital](https://review.firstround.com/the-fundraising-wisdom-that-helped-our-founders-raise-18b-in-follow-on-capital/), 2016-05-31 (reported) | E19 |
| E19 | Q&A, objections | "Don't go out of your way to bring it up ... but don't try to pretend either that you're further along than you are." | Paul Graham, [How to Present to Investors](https://paulgraham.com/investors.html), 2006-08, rev. 2010-09 | E18, E20 |
| E20 | Q&A, objections | Hardware: "If you don't address those concerns before they bring them up, they'll assume you either don't know or don't have a plan." | Tran.vc, no named author, [Pitching a Hardware Startup? Don't Make These Mistakes](https://www.tran.vc/pitching-a-hardware-startup-dont-make-these-mistakes/), 2025-08-08 | E19 |
| E21 | demo-day delivery | "One person should give the presentation. We strongly recommend against switching back and forth between presenters." | Geoff Ralston, YC, [A Guide to Demo Day Presentations](https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/guide-to-demo-day-pitches/), 2016-07-25 | E43 |
| E22 | demo-day delivery | "They are almost never a good idea – investors are there to judge you and therefore want to see you perform live." | Geoff Ralston, YC, [A Guide to Demo Day Presentations](https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/guide-to-demo-day-pitches/), 2016-07-25 |  |
| E23 | demo-day delivery | "Nicole recommends spending 75 percent of your time getting this intro right" | Nicole Glaros, Techstars Toolkit, [Master Your Pitch](https://toolkit.techstars.com/master-your-pitch), undated, page © 2024 (reported) |  |
| E24 | demo-day delivery | "The pitch video is the most important element of the submission." | Mike Hale, summarizing a Colosseum workshop, [Perfecting Your Hackathon Submission: Key Insights from the Colosseum Workshop](https://blog.colosseum.com/perfecting-your-hackathon-submission/), 2025-05-08 (reported) |  |
| E25 | demo | "tell the audience what they do to the point where the audience has to imagine what the product actually does - instead show them!" | Nicole Glaros, Techstars Toolkit, [Master Your Pitch](https://toolkit.techstars.com/master-your-pitch), undated, page © 2024 (reported) | E26 |
| E26 | demo | "This used to be where you would show a demo, but ironically, demos seldom work in modern demo day presentations." | Geoff Ralston, YC, [A Guide to Demo Day Presentations](https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/guide-to-demo-day-pitches/), 2016-07-25 | E25 |
| E27 | demo | "Teams are encouraged to treat their pitch like a brief startup pitch, not a product demo." | Mike Hale, summarizing a Colosseum workshop, [Perfecting Your Hackathon Submission: Key Insights from the Colosseum Workshop](https://blog.colosseum.com/perfecting-your-hackathon-submission/), 2025-05-08 (reported) | E28 |
| E28 | demo | "be concise when telling your product story, walking through your demo, and explaining why it is destined to become the next breakout crypto product." | Matty Taylor, Colosseum, [How to Win a Colosseum Hackathon](https://blog.colosseum.com/how-to-win-a-colosseum-hackathon/), 2024-02-20 | E27 |
| E29 | demo | "While the pitch video is for explaining the why, the technical demo is about the how." | Mike Hale, summarizing a Colosseum workshop, [Perfecting Your Hackathon Submission: Key Insights from the Colosseum Workshop](https://blog.colosseum.com/perfecting-your-hackathon-submission/), 2025-05-08 (reported) |  |
| E30 | deck content | "Put your team slide toward the end of the deck." | First Round Review, quoting Brett Berson and Bill Trenchard, [The Fundraising Wisdom That Helped Our Founders Raise $18B in Follow-On Capital](https://review.firstround.com/the-fundraising-wisdom-that-helped-our-founders-raise-18b-in-follow-on-capital/), 2016-05-31 (reported) | E41 |
| E31 | deck content | "The best way to talk about competition, particularly if you're in a contested market is to address it throughout the entire deck" | First Round Review, quoting Brett Berson and Bill Trenchard, [The Fundraising Wisdom That Helped Our Founders Raise $18B in Follow-On Capital](https://review.firstround.com/the-fundraising-wisdom-that-helped-our-founders-raise-18b-in-follow-on-capital/), 2016-05-31 (reported) | E32 |
| E32 | deck content | "For competitors, list the top 3 and explain in one sentence each what they lack that you have." | Paul Graham, [How to Present to Investors](https://paulgraham.com/investors.html), 2006-08, rev. 2010-09 | E31 |
| E33 | deck content | "It is vastly better to be concrete and bottoms up" | Geoff Ralston, YC, [A Guide to Demo Day Presentations](https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/guide-to-demo-day-pitches/), 2016-07-25 | E34 |
| E34 | deck content | "You don't need to tell them the size of the market you're in." | Paul Graham, [How to Present to Investors](https://paulgraham.com/investors.html), 2006-08, rev. 2010-09 | E33 |
| E35 | traction without revenue | "the more specific the LOI is, the more valuable it is." | Jared Friedman, YC, [Advice for Hard-Tech and Biotech founders (Startup School video)](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/8G-advice-for-hard-tech-and-biotech-founders), 2019-09-20 |  |
| E36 | traction without revenue | "I would actually much rather see really great validation at the early stage than small amounts of traction." | a16z speedrun panel, [What We Look for In Applications](https://speedrun.substack.com/p/what-we-look-for-in-applications), 2026-01-14 |  |
| E37 | traction without revenue | "a combination of historical capital efficiency, demonstrated product and technical progress, and validated demand can help the companies meet their capital needs." | Oliver Hsu, a16z American Dynamism, [Full-Stack Startups in American Dynamism](https://a16z.com/full-stack-startups-in-american-dynamism/), 2023-05-24 |  |
| E38 | traction without revenue | "you may actually be better off raising on the vision again and waiting to do the launch until you have more capital" | Arianna Simpson, a16z crypto, [Preparing for the Pitch (CSX video, auto-captions)](https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/videos/preparing-for-the-pitch/), 2024-08-31 |  |
| E39 | traction without revenue | "Teams should also mention any feedback or validation they have received from users, even if informal" | Mike Hale, summarizing a Colosseum workshop, [Perfecting Your Hackathon Submission: Key Insights from the Colosseum Workshop](https://blog.colosseum.com/perfecting-your-hackathon-submission/), 2025-05-08 (reported) |  |
| E40 | team | "can you brag about yourself in a way that builds deep conviction that ... you are the one that's going to unlock it?" | a16z speedrun panel, [What We Look for In Applications](https://speedrun.substack.com/p/what-we-look-for-in-applications), 2026-01-14 |  |
| E41 | team | "have a team slide and I would actually encourage you to put this at the beginning of the deck versus the end" | Arianna Simpson, a16z crypto, [Preparing for the Pitch (CSX video, auto-captions)](https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/videos/preparing-for-the-pitch/), 2024-08-31 | E30 |
| E42 | team | "if you're focusing on a deeply complex or regulated space, having the expertise in house to plausibly tackle those problems is important." | Michael Seibel, YC, [How to Pitch Your Company](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4b-how-to-pitch-your-company), by 2020-06 |  |
| E43 | explaining deep tech | "If one of the founders is an expert ... it can be good for them to talk about that for a minute or so." | Paul Graham, [How to Present to Investors](https://paulgraham.com/investors.html), 2006-08, rev. 2010-09 | E21 |
| E44 | explaining deep tech | "You need to have a good storytelling narrative for non-experts." | Kevin Hale, YC, [How to Pitch Your Startup (Startup School video)](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6q-how-to-pitch-your-startup), 2019-09-13 |  |
| E45 | explaining deep tech | "The best pitches are ones that can altitude shift." | Liz Wessel, First Round Review, [Here's What You Can Really Expect When Pitching Your Seed-Stage Startup at a VC Partner Meeting](https://review.firstround.com/heres-what-you-can-really-expect-when-pitching-your-seed-stage-startup-at-a-vc-partner-meeting/), 2024-08-14 |  |
| E46 | explaining deep tech | "potentially sharing an FAQ doc with investors ahead of time" | Liz Wessel, First Round Review, [Here's What You Can Really Expect When Pitching Your Seed-Stage Startup at a VC Partner Meeting](https://review.firstround.com/heres-what-you-can-really-expect-when-pitching-your-seed-stage-startup-at-a-vc-partner-meeting/), 2024-08-14 |  |
| E47 | explaining deep tech | "if you're doing a weird idea ... you need to help pull us along on your vision of the future." | a16z speedrun panel, [What We Look for In Applications](https://speedrun.substack.com/p/what-we-look-for-in-applications), 2026-01-14 |  |
| E48 | crypto framing | "it's important to frame new terminology with language and concepts customers already know and use." | Pyrs Carvolth, a16z crypto, [Going to market with better messaging: On mission statements and more](https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/how-to-write-missions-statements/), 2025-02-19 |  |
| E49 | crypto framing | Generalist versus crypto-native investor: "it may make sense to have a slightly different version" | Arianna Simpson, a16z crypto, [Preparing for the Pitch (CSX video, auto-captions)](https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/videos/preparing-for-the-pitch/), 2024-08-31 |  |
| E50 | crypto framing | "I definitely don't think people should just be randomly bolting on tokens to things in order to like have Financial upside" | Arianna Simpson, a16z crypto, [Preparing for the Pitch (CSX video, auto-captions)](https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/videos/preparing-for-the-pitch/), 2024-08-31 |  |
| E51 | crypto framing | "committing to a token up front can be a distraction from finding the perfect way to achieve product Market fit" | Jesse Walden (Variant), a16z crypto Crypto Startup School, [Fundraising and Deal Structure (video, auto-captions)](https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/videos/fundraising-and-deal-structure/), 2023-03-01 |  |
| E52 | process, momentum | "You should always talk to investors in parallel rather than serially." | Paul Graham, [How to Raise Money](https://paulgraham.com/fr.html), 2013-09 | E53 |
| E53 | process, momentum | "For the vast majority of early-stage companies, raising capital is a slower, relationship-building exercise." | First Round Review, quoting Brett Berson and Bill Trenchard, [The Fundraising Wisdom That Helped Our Founders Raise $18B in Follow-On Capital](https://review.firstround.com/the-fundraising-wisdom-that-helped-our-founders-raise-18b-in-follow-on-capital/), 2016-05-31 (reported) | E52 |
| E54 | process, momentum | "Avoid investors till you decide to raise money" | Paul Graham, [How to Raise Money](https://paulgraham.com/fr.html), 2013-09 | E55 |
| E55 | process, momentum | "pick a set of three, of five, whatever, Series A investors who you see every other month" | Aaron Harris (YC), interviewed by Craig Cannon, [Aaron Harris on Fundraising and Meeting with Investors](https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/aaron-harris-on-fundraising-and-meeting-with-investors), 2019-08-21 | E54 |
| E56 | process, momentum | "The 1st term sheet is your critical step – once you have it others must move faster." | NFX, [The Non-Obvious Guide to Fundraising](https://www.nfx.com/post/the-non-obvious-guide-to-fundraising), 2021-01-18 |  |
| E57 | process, momentum | "for each of these fund raises, you want to have specific milestones that you hit." | Jared Friedman, YC, [Advice for Hard-Tech and Biotech founders (Startup School video)](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/8G-advice-for-hard-tech-and-biotech-founders), 2019-09-20 |  |
| E58 | follow-up | "Always write a thank you email after the meeting. In the email, make sure to tackle the points you felt were left open." | NFX, [The Non-Obvious Guide to Fundraising](https://www.nfx.com/post/the-non-obvious-guide-to-fundraising), 2021-01-18 |  |
| E59 | follow-up | "Whenever you have progressed to a new milestone in your business, update the investors who are still in the process of deliberating." | NFX, [The Non-Obvious Guide to Fundraising](https://www.nfx.com/post/the-non-obvious-guide-to-fundraising), 2021-01-18 |  |
| E60 | follow-up | "While weekly update videos are not required, they can strengthen a submission by demonstrating momentum and iteration." | Mike Hale, summarizing a Colosseum workshop, [Perfecting Your Hackathon Submission: Key Insights from the Colosseum Workshop](https://blog.colosseum.com/perfecting-your-hackathon-submission/), 2025-05-08 (reported) |  |