A behind the scenes look at a seed stage investor meeting from a VC perspective.

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What are investors really looking
for in a pitch?
Noam Kaiser, Director, Intel Capital
A behind the scenes look at a seed stage investor
meeting from a VC perspective.

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Who is this guy, anyway?
• Venture Partner, Head of Investment Committee, IRF
• Director, Intel Capital
• VC & Startup Business Development Manager @ AWS – Israel & Iberia
• Principal @ Gemini Israel Ventures
• Investment Manager @ Ofer Hi Tech
• VP Sales & Biz Dev @ BAlink
• Founder & CEO @ VentureApp
• New Media Manager @ Yes Satellite TV, Eurocom group
• Major, IDF Armor Corps
2

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Portfolio

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What did 34 out over 3000 startups do well?
ROI NEED
COMPETITION
BUSINESS MODEL
INTELECTUAL PROPERTY
BUDGET
WORK PLAN
PITCH/DISRUPTION
A GOOD STORY
BY SOLID STORY
TELLERS
TEAM
TAM

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Ep 1: The Elevator Pitch
5

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Ep 1: The Elevator Pitch

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Ep 1: The Elevator Pitch

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Ep 2: Vision
8
• A company, rather than a product
• Coherent
• Get behind it
• Relevant
• Obtainable – But not without a fight

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Ep 3: What is it EXACTLY that you do?
What you actually do
VC Interpretation
VC Bias
Note: This is NOT a product deep dive, it’s just focus.

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Ep 4: Need (Or “Why?”)

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• Does the need exist?
• Is it unmet or is it resolved? (How well?)
• Does the need constitute a significant market?
Ep 4: Need

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“How come there’s
no 7-Eleven in the
middle of the
Sahara?!”
Ep 4: Need

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did you validate the need with?
Who
Ep 4: Need

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Ep 5: The Team (Or “Why you?”)
Sources: LiveStream
“Hey, let’s talk for 59 minutes and THEN
I’ll spend another minute telling you
who I am and why my background is
relevant for the meeting!”

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Sources: LiveStream
So, what do you
do for the company? I’m the founder
Oh… and you?
Co - founder
I see…
Ep 5: The Team

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Sources: LiveStream
Ep 5: THE Team

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STARTUP
START
Ep 6: The story so far
STARTING
DOESN’T REQUIRE
EXPERIENCE
Ep 5: The Team

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Ep 6: The story so far – MVP

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Great wat to show IP, Availability
Scale, security. However…
“It looks as if the blue bucket
is angry at the grey people
who called the police…”
• Know your crowd
• Read the room
• Have 2 versions
• At least
Ep 6: The story so far – MVP – Architecture
matters

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Show me
Tell me
Ep 6: The story so far – GTM

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Ep 6: The story so far – GTM - POC
Logo
strengt
h
Design
partner
involveme
nt
The more mature the company the more logos
matters

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“In less than 3 years, being the first to rank shows you
didn’t watch will be as common as liking TikTok videos”
Jonathon S. , Market expert
“This is exactly what our users are missing”
Richard H. , CEO, ruinmyshow.io
“If I had only 3 apps on my phone, they would
be e-mail, calendar and an app that ranks shows I never
watched”
Tim B. , Some random guy
Ep 6: The story so far – PMF

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Ep 7: Opportunity (Or “Why now?”)

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Ep 8: Competition (Or “Why your
company?”)

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What’s the difference
Is it significant?
Enough to win
customers?
Mistake #1
“None of these pose a direct competition to us”
Mistake #2
Ep 8: Competition

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Correct Incorrect
Ep 8: Competition

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46%
22%
17%
15%
Global Social Netflix Show Ranking Market
Share TikTok
Twitter… sorry, "X"
Instagram
Our yet to be
developed
technology
The “Top Down” Approach:
“Well, the global market size for spoiling on social media is estimated at $ $3B,
So estimating we’ll take 15%– we expect to hit $450M in revenue within 5 years.”
Ep 9: TAM – Total Available Market

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Think Unit Economics
(And yes, “Who did you validate this with” applies here too.)
The “Bottom Up” Approach:
“Here’s what it would take me to sell these many licenses, at this price point.”
Ep 9: TAM – Total Available Martket

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Remember: It’s all about telling a good
story
“A 2X
ROI ?!?!”

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Ep 10: Spoiler alert! (Or “The
ecosystem.”)

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Ep 11 : Plan and Budget (Or “What do you
want?”)
$
?

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%
$
Min Max
Min
Max
$500K $1M
15%
25%
20%
750K
20% = $750K
Valuation = $3.75M
Pre money
Valuation = $ 4.5M
Post Money
Valuation – Not an episode of your
story.

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Valuation – Not an episode of your
story.
SAFE - Simple Agreement for Future
Equity
• A mechanism that postpones valuation to the next
financing round.
• CAP – Maximum valuation for conversion.
• Discount % – Investor incentive for early risk.
• Don’t become addicted – No one wants to convert a
layer cake.

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Questions?

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Good luck!
Noam Kaiser, Director, Intel Capital