Level 1 — First impression — the elevator pitch
Short, spontaneous situations where you practice summing up your idea in a few seconds.
You run into an investor in an elevator and have only about 60 seconds to grab their attention before they reach their floor.
At a networking event for entrepreneurs, you meet an investor and present your idea in a friendly way before diving into details.
You reached out via email and they agreed to a 5-minute call, but they are hard to please from the very first second.
Level 2 — The idea and the problem
Explaining the problem and solution clearly to investors with different backgrounds.
Explain the real problem your project solves to an investor, and why it actually matters.
Explain how your solution works to a non-technical investor without using complex jargon.
The investor questions whether your idea is actually feasible to execute, rather than just a nice theory.
Level 3 — Numbers and the market
Defending market size, revenue model and competition with numbers.
Explain the target market size and growth potential to a venture capital partner.
An investor asks how you will actually make money from this project.
The investor asks about existing competitors in the market and how you plan to outperform them.
Level 4 — Facing doubts
Handling real doubts about the team, risks and valuation.
An investor is doubting your small team's ability to execute such an ambitious project.
An investor asks about the biggest risk that could cause the project to fail and your backup plan.
The investor asks about your company's valuation and how exactly you arrived at that number.
Level 5 — The final round — convincing the panel
A final pitch under pressure, negotiating equity and closing the deal.
Your final pitch in a critical funding round, where an investor is firing off relentless objections.
You have reached the stage of negotiating the equity stake the investor will receive in exchange for their funding.
After all the questions and negotiations, try to close the meeting with a clear and specific next step.