How to practice a pitch for investors

A pitch is short, and that is what makes it hard. In a few minutes you have to explain the problem, your solution, why now, why you, and what you are asking for, often while someone interrupts with questions. Founders usually polish the deck for weeks and rehearse the talk the night before. Investors judge the talk.

Investors are not only evaluating the business. They are watching how clearly you think and how you handle pressure, because that is how you will run the company.

Before you start: know the format

Pitches come in very different shapes, and each needs its own version:

• The short pitch (a demo day or competition slot): a fixed time, no interruptions, then questions.
• The meeting pitch: a conversation with slides, often interrupted from the second minute.
• The one-minute version: for intros, events and the first minute of every meeting.

Prepare the one-minute version first. If you can't say what you do and why it matters in a minute, the long version won't fix it.

Slides: build the story, not the deck

Most pitch decks follow a familiar order: problem, solution, product, market, traction, business model, competition, team, and the ask. The order matters less than the thread that connects them. Each slide should answer the question the previous one raised.

Say your one-line story out loud: "[Customers] struggle with [problem], we solve it with [solution], and [traction] shows it works; we're raising [amount] to [milestone]." If a slide doesn't serve that sentence, it belongs in the appendix.

For timing, see how long a presentation should be; for a ten-minute slot, aim for about nine minutes and keep one in reserve.

Rehearse the numbers until they're automatic

Numbers are where pitches go wrong. A founder says "about forty percent" when the slide says fourteen, or hesitates on the size of the market, and the room notices. Rehearse every number on your slides out loud until you can say it without looking, and make sure what you say matches what is on screen.

Know the numbers behind the numbers too: how you calculated the market, what your churn and margins are, and how long the round lasts.

Rehearse with interruptions

In a real meeting you won't get through slide three without a question. Practise that:

• Run 1: the clean run. The whole pitch, on time, no stops. Find the slides that run long.
• Run 2: interrupted. Ask someone to stop you two or three times with hard questions, then pick up where you left off. Getting back on track smoothly is a skill of its own.
• Run 3: the short version. Deliver the pitch in half the time, as if the meeting started late. You'll discover what really matters.

Record at least one run and watch it with the sound off: do you look at the people or at your slides? Then listen without the picture: do you rush the ask? Most founders do.

Prepare the hard questions

Investors ask about the same things again and again: why now, why you, who else is doing this, how you'll get customers, what could kill the company, and how you'll use the money. Write your answers down, then say each out loud in under a minute; see how to answer questions after a presentation.

Land the ask

End with one clear sentence: how much you're raising, what it will get you to, and what you want from this meeting. Then stop talking. The silence after the ask is where the conversation begins.

How to practise this week

1. Write and rehearse the one-minute version.
2. Do a clean timed run and cut what runs long.
3. Do an interrupted run with a friend playing a sceptical investor.
4. Rehearse every number until you don't need the slide.
5. Answer your ten hardest questions out loud.

RehearseWise helps you rehearse the pitch alone: it checks what you say against your slides (including the numbers), times every slide, counts filler words and, with the Pro plan, gives you the questions investors are most likely to ask.