My first raise for PizzaPortal, I sent the first investor email before I had a deck. I had a one-pager. I had enthusiasm. I did not have a cap table. I did not have a financial model. I did not have a data room. When an investor said send me your deck, I scrambled. When they said send me your cap table, I built one in a weekend. When they said send me your financials, I had nothing. I looked unprepared. I was unprepared. Since then I have raised over €150 million across five companies. The biggest improvement was not better pitching. It was being ready before I pitched. This checklist is what I wish I had. Everything you need before you send a single email. Pitch materials. Financial model. Data room. Investor list. CRM. Legal prep. Metrics. Timeline. Get these done first. Then reach out. Everything below comes from doing it wrong and then doing it right. The checklist is the foundation. No shortcuts.
Pitch Materials
You need three things: a deck, a one-pager, and an exec summary. All three. Not just one.
Deck. 10 to 15 slides. Problem, solution, market, traction, team, ask. Investors expect a deck. They will ask for it. Have it ready before you send the first email. Do not send the deck in the first email. But have it ready. When they say send me the deck, you send it. Same day. Same hour. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Same day. The deck should be clean. No walls of text. One idea per slide. Numbers. Facts. No hype. A good deck takes a week to build. A great deck takes two. Start early. Iterate. Get feedback from other founders. Refine. Do not over-build. 10 to 15 slides is enough. More is not better. More is worse. I used to build 25-slide decks. I thought more detail would help. It did not. Investors skim. They spend 2 minutes per deck. If they cannot get the gist in 2 minutes, they move on. 10 to 15 slides. Problem, solution, market, traction, team, ask. That is the structure. Stick to it. Cut everything else.
One-pager. One page. Company name. One sentence description. Problem. Solution. Traction. Team. Ask. That is it. Use it for cold emails. Use it for warm intro context. Use it when someone says give me the short version. The one-pager is your elevator pitch in written form. It should fit on one page. Literally. Print it. If it spills to two pages, cut it. Investors get hundreds of one-pagers. Yours needs to scan in 30 seconds. One paragraph per section. No more. I use the one-pager for every cold email. I paste it into the email or attach it. I do not send the deck in the first email. The one-pager is enough. If they want more, they ask. The one-pager gets replies. The deck gets sent after. One step at a time. One-pager first. Deck second.
Exec summary. Two to three pages. Slightly more detail than the one-pager. Less than the deck. Use it when investors want more than a one-pager but less than a deck. Some investors prefer exec summaries. Some prefer decks. Have both. The exec summary is useful for email attachments. For follow-ups. For investors who want to read before a call. It bridges the gap between one-pager and deck. Build it. Have it ready. I use the exec summary when an investor says send me something to read before our call. The one-pager is too short. The deck is too long. The exec summary is right. Two pages. Problem, solution, market, traction, team, ask. Same structure as the deck. More detail than the one-pager. It prepares them for the call. They come in informed. The call is better. Prep them. They will notice.
All three should be consistent. Same numbers. Same messaging. Same ask. Do not have a deck that says €500K and a one-pager that says €1M. Sync them. Update them together. When traction changes, update all three. Same day. Inconsistency kills credibility. I made this mistake once. I had updated the deck with new MRR. I had not updated the one-pager. An investor asked for the one-pager. I sent it. The numbers were wrong. They noticed. They asked. I had to explain. I looked sloppy. Now I have a rule: when I update one, I update all three. Same day. No exceptions. Credibility is built on consistency. Consistency is built on discipline.
Financial Model
Investors will ask for a financial model. Pre-seed investors may not dig deep. Seed and Series A investors will. Have a model ready. Even if it is simple.
Minimum: revenue projections for 3 years. Month by month for year one. Quarterly for years two and three. Assumptions clearly stated. Growth rates. Conversion rates. Churn. Whatever drives your model. Write the assumptions down. Do not hide them in formulas. Investors want to see the logic. They want to stress-test. Give them the inputs. Let them see the outputs.
Include a burn rate. How much you spend per month. How long the runway lasts at different raise sizes. If you raise €500K, 18 months runway. If you raise €1M, 24 months. Simple. Clear. Investors want to know how long the money lasts. Tell them.
Include a use of funds. Where the money goes. Product. Sales. Marketing. Team. By category. By quarter. Not a vague pie chart. Specific line items. Investors want to see you have thought about it. A detailed use of funds shows that. A vague one does not.
The model does not need to be perfect. It needs to be coherent. Assumptions should be reasonable. Growth should be justified. If you are projecting 20 percent MoM growth, say why. If you have no traction, be conservative. Better to under-promise and over-deliver. Investors have seen thousands of models. They can spot BS. Be honest. Be coherent. That is enough. One more point: know your numbers cold. When an investor asks what is your burn rate, you know. When they ask how long the runway lasts, you know. Do not open the model during the call. Know it. The model is a document. Your brain should hold the key numbers. Burn. Runway. Key assumptions. Memorize them. Investors will ask. You will answer. Fast. Confident. That builds trust.
Data Room
When investors get serious, they will ask for a data room. Have it ready before they ask. Do not scramble when they say send me your cap table. Have it. Send it. Same day.
Cap table. Current ownership. Fully diluted. Include options pool. Include any outstanding SAFEs or convertibles. Show what the cap table looks like after the round at different valuations. Investors want to see who owns what. They want to see the options pool. They want to see the post-money cap table. Build it. Keep it updated. Use a tool like Carta or a spreadsheet. Does not matter. Just have it. Accurate. Current.
Key docs. Certificate of incorporation. Bylaws or articles. Board resolutions. Stock option plan. Any material contracts. Investors will ask for these during due diligence. Have them in a folder. Ready to share. Do not wait until they ask. Prep the folder now. Label files clearly. Company_name_certificate.pdf. Company_name_bylaws.pdf. Clean. Professional. I have seen deals slow down because the founder could not find the incorporation docs. The investor asked. The founder said let me get back to you. Two days later. The momentum died. Have the docs ready. Label them. Put them in the folder. When they ask, send the link. Same day. Momentum matters. Delays kill it.
Financials. Last 12 months of financials if you have them. P&L. Balance sheet. Cash flow. If you are pre-revenue, maybe you have nothing. That is fine. But if you have revenue, have financials. Investors will ask. Have them ready.
Contracts. Key customer contracts. Key vendor contracts. Anything material. Redact if needed. But have them. Investors want to see your customers are real. Your contracts are real. Prep a few. The rest can come later.
Store everything in one place. Google Drive. Dropbox. DocSend. Whatever. One folder. Clear structure. When an investor says send me the data room, you send a link. Not a zip file. Not 20 separate emails. One link. One folder. Professional. Fast. I used to send files one by one. Investor asks for cap table. I send cap table. Investor asks for financials. I send financials. Investor asks for contracts. I send contracts. Each request took a day. Each back-and-forth slowed the process. Now I have one folder. One link. When they ask for the data room, I send it. Same day. Same hour. They have everything. They move faster. I move faster. Prep the folder. Send the link. Done.
Investor List
Before you send a single email, build your investor list. Define criteria. Find funds. Qualify them. Tier them. How to build an investor list that leads to meetings: stage, sector, geography, check size. Seven sources. How to qualify. How many you need. Do not start outreach with an empty list. Do not add funds as you go. Build the list first. Then reach out. A list of 30 to 50 qualified funds takes one to two weeks. Do it before you send the first email. You will move faster. You will look more prepared. You will convert better. I used to add funds as I went. I would send 10 emails. I would run out of names. I would scramble to find more. Then I would send 10 more. No rhythm. No structure. Now I build the full list first. 30 to 50 qualified funds. Tier 1, 2, 3. Then I reach out in order. Tier 1 first. Then Tier 2. Then Tier 3. The list drives the outreach. Not the other way around. Build it. Then use it.
CRM Setup
Before you contact 10 investors, set up a way to track them. Spreadsheet or CRM. Stages. Follow-up reminders. Notes. How to create a fundraising pipeline: six stages, follow-up cadence, when to kill a deal. Do not rely on your inbox. Do not rely on your memory. Set up the pipeline before you send the first email. Add investors as you contact them. Log every interaction. Set reminders. When you have 15 investors in motion, you will forget who needs a follow-up. The CRM will remember. The spreadsheet will remember. You will not. Set it up first. Then execute. I used to track everything in Gmail. I would search for investor names. I would try to remember who I had followed up with. I forgot. I lost deals. I sent the same deck twice. Now I use a pipeline. Every investor is in a stage. Every investor has a follow-up date. I log every interaction. I never forget. Set up the pipeline. Add investors as you contact them. Log everything. Your future self will thank you. Your conversion rate will too.
Legal Prep
Two things matter: entity structure and instrument type.
Entity. Are you incorporated? Where? Delaware C-Corp is standard for US investors. UK limited company or similar for European investors. If you are not incorporated, fix that before you raise. Investors do not invest in sole props. They invest in companies. Get incorporated. Get it right. Talk to a lawyer. One hour of lawyer time now saves weeks later.
SAFE vs priced. Pre-seed and seed often use SAFEs. Series A often uses priced rounds. Know which you are doing. Have the docs ready. If you are doing SAFEs, have a standard SAFE template. YC post-money SAFE is common. European founders sometimes use convertibles. Know your market. Know your instrument. When an investor says we want to do a SAFE, you say here is our standard. Not we will figure it out. Have it ready. Lawyers can help. Get a template. Customize if needed. Have it before you need it. I have lost weeks waiting for legal docs. The investor was ready. We were not. Get the template now. Customize later if needed. Have something to send. Speed matters when an investor says yes. Be ready to move.
One more: clean up your cap table before you raise. If you have messy equity. If you have undocumented promises. If you have co-founder disputes. Fix it now. Investors will find out. Messy cap table kills deals. Clean it up before you start. Lawyer time. Worth it. I have seen deals die because of cap table issues. Undocumented advisor equity. Unclear founder splits. Options promised but not granted. Investors do due diligence. They find this stuff. Fix it before they look. One hour of lawyer time now saves the round later. Do not skip it. Cap table cleanup is not optional. It is mandatory. Get it done before the first meeting.
Metrics Documentation
Write down your metrics. Current. Historical. Clear. Investors will ask. Have the numbers ready. Not in your head. On a page.
Revenue: MRR, ARR, growth rate. Users: DAU, MAU, retention. Whatever matters for your business. Pick the 5 to 10 metrics that define you. Write them down. Update them weekly. When an investor asks what is your MRR, you know. You do not guess. You do not say let me check. You know. Same for churn. Same for CAC. Same for LTV. Know your numbers. Document them.
Include a simple dashboard or screenshot if you have one. Investors like to see real data. A ChartMogul screenshot. A Stripe dashboard. A Google Sheet with key metrics. Something. Show them the numbers are real. Not made up. Not approximated. Real. Pre-seed founders often have limited metrics. Maybe MRR. Maybe user count. Maybe nothing. That is fine. Document what you have. If you have nothing, say so. Do not fake it. Investors can tell. Honest zero beats fake traction. Document the truth. Update as you grow. The metrics page evolves with the company. Start with what you have. Add as you grow. Consistency and honesty matter more than impressive numbers at pre-seed.
One tip: create a one-page metrics summary. MRR, growth, churn, CAC, LTV. One page. Update it weekly. Send it with the deck when investors ask for more. It shows you are on top of your numbers. It shows you are serious. Prep it. Use it. I keep a metrics page in Notion. I update it every Monday. When an investor asks for metrics, I send the link. Same day. No scrambling. No digging through spreadsheets. The numbers are documented. They are current. They are ready. That level of prep builds credibility. Investors notice. Founders who know their numbers get taken seriously. Founders who guess get passed. Document. Update. Send. Simple.
Timeline
When do you prep? When do you start outreach?
Prep phase. 2 to 4 weeks before first outreach. Deck. One-pager. Exec summary. Financial model. Data room. Investor list. CRM. Legal. Metrics. All of it. Get it done. Do not start outreach until the checklist is complete. I used to start outreach when the deck was done. Bad idea. I would get a meeting. They would ask for the cap table. I did not have it. I looked unprepared. Now I prep everything first. Then I send the first email. No exceptions. 2 to 4 weeks. Block the time. Get it done. Treat prep like a project. Set a deadline. Assign tasks. Check them off. Do not wing it. Winging prep leads to winging meetings. Winging meetings leads to lost deals. Prep is not optional. Prep is the foundation. The raise stands on it. Get it right.
Outreach phase. After prep. Send first emails. Follow up. Schedule meetings. Run the pipeline. The outreach phase lasts 4 to 12 weeks depending on stage. Pre-seed can close in 4 to 6 weeks. Series A can take 3 to 6 months. Plan accordingly. But do not start outreach until prep is done. Prep first. Outreach second. Always.
One exception. Warm intros. If someone offers to intro you to an investor today, take it. Do not say I need 2 more weeks. But have the deck ready. Have the one-pager ready. Have the cap table ready. You may not have the full data room. But you need the basics. Deck. One-pager. Cap table. If you have those, you can take a warm intro. If you do not, decline. Say I need one more week. Get the basics done. Then take the intro. Warm intros are rare. Do not waste them by being unprepared. I have turned down warm intros because I was not ready. It hurt. But it was the right call. Showing up unprepared would have hurt more. One bad meeting can burn a relationship. One delayed intro can be rescheduled. Get the basics. Then say yes. No exceptions for warm intros. Basics first. Always.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I start outreach before I have everything?
No. Have the minimum: deck, one-pager, cap table. Everything else can follow. But you need those three. When an investor says send me the deck, you send it. When they say send me the cap table, you send it. Same day. If you do not have them, you look unprepared. Unprepared founders get passed. Get the minimum done. Then start. The full data room can come when they get serious. The financial model can come when they ask. But deck, one-pager, cap table: have them before the first email. One caveat: if you have a warm intro opportunity today and you have the deck and one-pager but not the cap table, you can take the meeting. But send the cap table within 24 hours. Do not show up to a meeting without a cap table if they have asked for it. Have it. Send it. Same day.
What if I am pre-revenue and have no financials?
That is fine for pre-seed. Pre-seed investors expect pre-revenue. Focus on the model. Projections. Assumptions. Use of funds. Burn rate. You may not have historical financials. But you can have a forward model. Revenue projections. Cost structure. Runway at different raise sizes. Build that. It shows you have thought about it. Pre-seed is about the idea, the team, and the plan. The plan includes a financial model. Build it. Even if it is simple. One sheet is enough. Revenue by month. Costs by month. Burn rate. Runway. Use of funds. That is the minimum. Investors want to see you have thought about the numbers. A simple model proves that. A missing model suggests you have not. Build it. Show it. Even if it is one page.
Do I need a data room before first meetings?
No. You need a data room before due diligence. First meetings: deck and one-pager are enough. When they get serious, they will ask for more. Cap table. Financials. Contracts. Have them ready. But you do not need to send the full data room in the first email. Send the deck. Get the meeting. When they say we want to dig in, send the data room. Prep it before. Send it when they ask. Do not over-share early. Deck first. Meeting second. Data room when they are serious.
How long does prep actually take?
2 to 4 weeks if you focus. Deck: 1 week. One-pager and exec summary: 2 to 3 days. Financial model: 2 to 3 days. Data room: 2 to 3 days. Investor list: 1 week. CRM setup: 1 day. Legal: depends on your situation. Metrics: 1 day. If you do it in parallel, 2 weeks. If you do it in sequence, 4 weeks. Block the time. Treat it like a project. Do not half-do it. Half-done prep is worse than no prep. You think you are ready. You are not. Investors will notice. Do it right. 2 to 4 weeks. Then start. One founder can do it in 2 weeks if they block everything else. Two founders can do it faster by dividing tasks. Deck: founder 1. Financial model: founder 2. Investor list: both. CRM: founder 1. Data room: founder 2. Parallel work cuts the time. Sequential work stretches it. Plan the work. Execute. Then start outreach. No shortcuts.
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