How to pitch to investors: tips for meetings and demo days

A good deck is necessary, but the pitch itself and the Q&A that follows often decide the investment. Investors assess the founder as well as the numbers: how well do you understand your business, how clearly do you explain it, how do you handle hard questions?

Structure

You may have 10–15 minutes in a meeting and 3–5 on a demo day. The flow is usually:

1. What you do, in one sentence
2. Problem: whose problem, and how big?
3. Solution and demo
4. Traction: users, revenue, growth
5. Market and business model
6. Competition and your edge
7. Team
8. Ask: how much you are raising and for what

See our pitch deck guide for slide content.

The first 30 seconds

Attention is won or lost in the first minute. Open with your strongest sentence, not a company history: "We build software that halves restaurants' stock waste; 120 restaurants pay us and revenue has grown fourfold in three months."

Tell a story

• Describe the problem through a concrete moment a customer experienced.
• Give numbers context: "from 10 to 120 customers in six months" rather than "20 percent monthly growth".
• Why now? What changed in the market to create this opportunity?

Demo

• A live demo is impressive, but keep a recorded backup for connection or technical issues.
• Show the user's "aha" moment, not every feature.
• Keep it to 60–90 seconds.

Preparing for tough questions

Prepare answers to common questions:

• Who are your competitors, and what if a big company does this?
• What are your acquisition cost and retention?
• Which milestones will this money get you to?
• What valuation do you expect? See our valuation guide.
• How do you manage Türkiye-specific risks?

If you do not know an answer, say "I will check that number and send it to you" rather than guessing, and do send it. See our metrics guide.

Demo day tips

• Do not run over time; time yourself in rehearsal.
• Use little text and big numbers on slides.
• End by showing how to get in touch.
• Within 24 hours, send a short follow-up to investors you met; see our investor email guide.

Online meetings

• Camera at eye level, light from the front.
• Turn off notifications before sharing your screen.
• Confirm the agenda and time in the first minute.

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse

Pitch at least ten times to different people and note the questions each time. The best pitches are not memorised; they have been told many times.

Conclusion

A pitch is the start of a relationship more than a sales talk. Be clear, evidence-based and confident. Browse our investors page to reach investors.