Tips for Pitching to New York Angels

The photo above was taken during a break and shows the room you’ll be pitching in. The screen on the left shows the faces of Zoom attendees when their cameras are on, and the screen on the right is your deck. You can either present from the podium or set you laptop up on one of the tables at the front and present from there. Whichever you prefer.

You will want to use a microphone when you pitch to ensure everyone in the room can easily hear you. We do not provide a clicker to advance your slides, but you are welcome to bring your own.

Pitch Deck Tips

Every founder knows how to tell the story of their company best, however there are certain key elements we suggest every pitch to our members should contain. They are:

• Team and qualifications

• Problem & Market

• Solution/Product

• Sales & Go-to-Market

• Competition & Competitive Differentiation

• Business Model

• Financial projections for at least 3 years

• Fundraising. This slide is essential and should contain 1) The amount you are raising, 2) The instrument being used (Equity, convertible note, SAFE), 3) Valuation and whether it is pre- or post-money. You should also include what you will do with the money and the expected runway.

• Exit strategy

Try to use large font and minimal text on each slide. You want the people in the back to also be able to clearly see and understand your slides, and the members won’t have time to read and digest lots of written text on each slide. The deck you pitch to us with does not have to be the same as the deck you upload to Gust.

Pitch Tips

• Bring some energy and enthusiasm! In theory it shouldn’t matter, but in reality it does - founders who command the room and show energy fare better than those who present passively.

• Have your presentation timed out to 10 minutes and a timer on hand for your pitch.

• Include all deck requirements (above) in your presentation, though not necessarily in the order you see here.

• Make sure the financial information you present is consistent with the information included in your application to us on Gust as investors are likely to view this as whether or not you pay attention to detail.

• If you have a physical product, bring enough samples for 30 members to try out.

• Practice your pitch! You can have notes, but you do not want to just read your pitch. We can tell and it never makes a good impression.

• We encourage you to watch David Rose’s TED U talk on pitching: https://www.ted.com/talks/david_s_rose_how_to_pitch_to_a_vc

Pitching with video

Due to the setup of the room, pitching with videos in your deck can be tricky. Specifically, you cannot play a video with sound during your pitch. If a video is a key component of your pitch, play the video muted and be prepared to speak over the video and explain to the members what they’re seeing. And if a video with sound is essential (such as if you are a live translation service or focused on audio quality specifically) please contact Jon to discuss options for your presentation.

Other Tips/Reminders

The goal of your presentation isn’t to convince members to invest in your company right then and there. It’s to interest them enough to want to go to the next meeting, which is the 2-hour Discovery call. Hit the key points at a high level and answer their questions, but don’t get bogged down in details.

If you’re pitching online, we mute the room once your pitch starts. It’s very distracting for the members online to hear the sounds in the room (coughing, sodas opening, people whispering, etc.), but this means is you won’t get audio feedback when you’re pitching. So if you deliver a hilarious joke and are met with silence don’t worry.

When it comes to Q&A, it can take a few moments for members to formulate their questions and raise their hands to ask. Don’t worry if there’s a pause between when we first ask for questions and when the first hand goes up.