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Thanksgiving is long behind us , so unless you ’re already in due industriousness with a VC , you may as well load down up your fundraising rucksack and cool down out until the holidays are over .
But this is an chance , too . The quiet hebdomad in front are the perfect prison term to polish up your pitch deck of cards and perfect your delivery before kicking thing back off in January .
According to anew reporton the former - phase fundraising trend of 2023 by DocSend , things are pretty bleak for young startup . At the cum stage , founders have had to contact more investors but ended up with fewer meetings , pointing to an more and more competitory fundraising environment .
The report shows a correlation between the number of investor contact and both the number of group meeting held and the amount of funding raise . Many come - stage startup in the dataset do to assure a significant number of meetings , and consequently , lift capital , by reaching out to fewer than 50 investor . In contrast , founders who contact more than 80 investors were a lot less successful .
There may be some haphazardness in the information , however : AI ’s popularity and availability has made it easier for founders to attain out to a lot of VCs ( anecdotally , that seems to be what the VCs are detect as well ) . The best advice?verify you love how VC worksandwhat an investment thesis is .
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How you read that data might influence your takeaways . But in my opinion , if you have n’t found a lead investor in the first 50 attempts of outreach , there ’s probably something ill-timed with the pitch or you ’re place the wrong investors . I see this with my sales talk coach client all the time : If you ’ve assay the same thing 80 times , it ’s unconvincing that seek 81 will be successful .
One of the biggest break since 2022 ( as I covered in February this year ) is that inauguration are now focalize a circumstances more on the “ why now ” part of their taradiddle . place large accent on the seasonableness of your idea seems to sour : Investors are react positively to pitch decks that compellingly accost the party ’s relevance in the current grocery .
It also appears that chute decks are getting shorter to accommodate investor ’ limited time to review decks . The report shows that people are pass less than 2 moment per deck , 27 % less than a year earlier , indicating that investors turn a loss interest if a deck fail to resonate immediately .
So it seems you ’ve find to communicate clearly and compactly — that 30 - slide deck of cards just wo n’t do the trick anymore . And more VCs are starting to use AI peter to analyze decks , so we ’re move into an era whenyou effectively need to do some SEO work on your deckfor a bot before you send it .
All that said , there are some glimmers of good news show for companies that are n’t base in a startup hub : There has been an increase in seed company launch outside of California , indicating a transmutation in startup hot spot .
Less good news is that there ’s still a pregnant bias against all - distaff teams : On average , such teams have a tough clip fundraising than all - manlike or miscellaneous - gender teams . In 2022–23 , seed - level startup institute by all - distaff teams raised 27 % less than those founded by all - manful squad , notably more than the 16 % col keep a year earlier . All - female teams raised an norm of $ 660,000 across 60 investor meetings , compared to all - male teams , which web an norm of $ 900,000 over 45 meeting , and mixed - gender teams , which prove $ 980,000 on average across 54 coming together .
Unsurprisingly , startups with multiple laminitis have an easier time of fundraising than solo founders . A few years ago , I argued thatbeing a solo beginner was dead potential . That ’s still true to a academic degree , but investing is all about valuate jeopardy , and multiperson initiation teams are but a safer bet .
I love dear empiric evidence , and perhaps the most interesting part of this dataset is where investor are focusing their attention when reading auction pitch pack of cards . compare to 2022 , this year , investors spent 88 % more time onthe “ competition ” section , 65 % more on the “ why now ” department , and 33 % more on the“traction ” sectionof delivery deck . This enhance scrutiny reflects investors ’ pursuit in how startups differentiate themselves in the market , the timeliness and relevance of their job theme , and the traction they have achieved .
Conversely , there has been a noticeable magnetic inclination in how much care is being given to the “ product ” and “ business model ” microscope slide . Specifically , investor spent 10 % less time reading “ Cartesian product ” sections this year compared to 2022 ( that nominate sense , sincefounders often spend right smart too much timefocusing on their product ) .
While these section remain important , investors come out to be more interested in how these facial expression relate to current market dynamics . This modification indicates that investor are now increasingly think more about the future of their potential investment funds than the present .
We’vecome a farseeing waysince Guy Kawasaki ’s 10 - slide templet . Investor aid is scarce , competition is fierce , and economic uncertainties are casting a winding-sheet on the economy . Amid these challenges Trygve Halvden Lie opportunity , and for those who can skilfully navigate these waters , the potential payoff are significant .
Lead with your strengths . If you have a strong squad , robust defendability , and the commencement of traction , you ’re in a good station to raise money . ensure you slope to the correct investor and sharpen those talking point .
