What Investors Check Before Taking a First Meeting

Most founders think the pitch happens in the meeting. In reality, the first round of judging happens before it, often in a few minutes and without you there. If you want to know how to get a meeting with investors, start with what they check in that window: whether you fit their fund, what your deck says, and who’s on your team.

We run investor outreach every day at Investor Links, so this is the part of the process we see most closely. This report covers the screening before the first call. For how investors make the final decision to invest, see our separate report on what investors look for.

What happens between your email and their yes to a meeting?

Usually, a quick screen. Investors see far more pitches than they can take. In a 2016 survey of 885 venture capitalists by Gompers and colleagues, the average firm screened 200 companies a year and made about four investments. Only one in four opportunities led to a meeting with the founders.

A reply is also not always a meeting. In a field experiment by Gornall and Strebulaev, researchers sent 80,000 pitch emails for fictitious startups to 28,000 VCs and angels in 2018. Among the replies that showed interest, 61% asked for a pitch deck and 16% asked for a meeting. So in most cases, the first “yes” is really “send me the deck,” and the deck decides whether a meeting follows.

Do you fit the fund?

This is the first filter, and the easiest one to fail without knowing it. Investors back a certain stage, sector, geography and check size. If you’re outside that, the answer is no, however good the company is.

The data backs this up. In the Gompers survey, roughly half of VCs named fit with the fund as an important factor, and 14% called it the most important one. In the Gornall and Strebulaev experiment, the authors wrote that many rejections came from “poor matching between the start-up and the investor (such as a mismatch on geography or industry).”

Before you reach out, check each investor’s last few deals, stated stage and typical check. If you can’t say in one sentence why this investor should care about your deal, leave them off the list.

What do investors read in your deck, and for how long?

Not long. DocSend’s research on seed decks found VCs spend an average of three minutes and 44 seconds reviewing a seed pitch deck, and only 58% of decks are viewed to the end.

The same DocSend analysis breaks down time by section. The business model got the longest look, at 64 seconds, followed by product at 59, traction at 40, team at 38 and financials at 37. DocSend also found that founders who open with company purpose, problem, solution and market size are more likely to raise.

DocSend’s 2023 pre-seed report adds a few more points. It covered over 200 pre-seed startups. Successful decks averaged 16 slides, against 19 for unsuccessful ones. Investors spent 48% more time on the business model section and 25% more on traction than on other sections. And 70% of successful decks included a financials slide, compared with 45% of unsuccessful ones.

What this means for you: put a clear story up front, make the business model easy to follow, and keep the deck tight.

Why does the team get checked before the product?

Because at the early stages, the team is most of what an investor is buying. In the Gompers survey, 95% of VC firms named the management team as an important factor and 47% named it the most important one, ahead of business model, product and market.

A randomized experiment on AngelList by Bernstein, Korteweg and Laws, published in the Journal of Finance, found the average early-stage investor responded strongly to information about the founding team, but not to traction or to the names of existing investors. Only the least experienced investors responded to all of it.

So make the team easy to judge. In one or two lines, say why your team is the right one for this problem: industry experience, a past exit, or deep knowledge of the customer.

Does traction still matter before a meeting?

Yes. It just matters in a specific way. DocSend found VCs spend 80% more time on the traction of companies that didn’t raise. Our read: when traction is unclear, investors spend longer trying to understand it, and that extra time usually ends in a no.

Show your strongest proof plainly, whatever your stage: revenue, growth rate, paying customers, pilots, letters of intent or a waitlist. Make the trend obvious and don’t make them hunt for it.

How to get a meeting with investors who fit: what order works?

Here’s the order we work in:

1. Build a matched list. Investors whose stage, sector, geography and check size fit your round. Fewer, better names beat a big generic list.
2. Find the right person. At a VC firm, that’s the partner who covers your space. At a family office, it’s whoever makes decisions.
3. Write a short first message. What you do in one line, your proof, your team in one line, your round, and why them. Ask for one small next step.
4. Have the deck ready. Most interested replies ask for it, so send it the same day.
5. Reply fast and follow up. Investors move quickly when they’re interested. In the Gornall and Strebulaev study, 72% of replies came within one day. If you hear nothing, a short, polite follow-up gives a busy investor a second chance to look.
6. Use warm paths where you have them. In the Gompers survey, only 10% of VC deals came inbound from founders. Most came through networks and referrals.

What should you check before the first meeting?

A short pre-meeting checklist:

• Read the investor’s recent deals and anything they’ve written or said about your space.
• Know your numbers cold: revenue, growth, burn, runway and how much you’re raising.
• Prepare a clear answer to “why now” and “why you.”
• Have a short data room ready in case they ask.
• Decide what you want from the call: a second meeting, a partner meeting, or an intro.

How does Investor Links help you get investor meetings?

We do the screening work before investors ever see your name. We build a checked list of investors whose past deals and check sizes match your round, write outreach around your deal and traction, run it on LinkedIn and email through HeyReach and Instantly, and book interested investors into meetings with you. We can also build or sharpen your pitch deck. We don’t promise funding or a set number of meetings. Book a free call to talk through your raise.

Frequently asked questions