What Investors Want From your Business

Raising capital feels like a mystery.

You see some startups securing millions in funding, while others—equally promising—struggle to get a second meeting.

In such situations, what investors want from your business, can feel like an unsolved mystery. 🕵🏻‍♀️

Founders often believe that if they build something innovative, investors will line up to fund them. But in reality, it’s not just about the idea—it’s about the opportunity.

Investors don’t hand out money just because something looks good on paper. They invest where they see the undeniable potential for high returns.

So, what exactly convinces an investor to say yes?

Let’s break it down.

What do investors want from your business?

The simple answer: Investors want returns.

The long answer: 

Still Money. Investors want to see that your business can yield more returns than their other investment opportunities.

But hear me out.

“Raising capital from Venture Capitalists is an emotional sale, not a rational one.”

As Naval Ravikant, the co-founder of AngelList, explains:

Emotional sales don’t happen via a checklist. They require investors to fall in love with one exceptional characteristic of your business, whether it’s your product, market, founding team, or rock-solid vision.

It’s your one extreme outlier that will compel them to invest in your business.

I scrolled through a mine of Twitter threads, dug through VC and angel investor interviews, and distilled it down to four key areas where investors expect you to excel.

1. Headstrong founding team

Investors invest in domain experts—founders who have spent years obsessing over the same problem. Their deep understanding of market shifts, customer needs, and product intricacies allows them to answer every investor question with clarity and confidence.

But expertise alone isn’t enough. Investors dig deep into the mindset driving the founding team.

They see if founders have the grit, determination, and relentless drive to push through rejection. If they have the kind of mad passion that refuses to take no for an answer.

And just as crucial—can they pivot fast enough to stay in the game?

Startups pivot, markets shift, products change, and the odds stack up. But a headstrong founder with relentless drive will always find a way to win.

🤔Interestingly, Twitter was born from a forced pivot.

Odeo, a podcasting startup, was the original product of Evan Williams and his team. But then Apple launched iTunes Podcasts, wiping out their market overnight. However, the investors stayed in, placed their bet on Evan and his team, and soon launched Twitter, a game-changing company we all know today.

The takeaway: Focus on building a team that is madly passionate, knowledgeable, trustworthy, and exceptional at forming the personal connections that drive a company forward. Convince the investors that the idea is led by strong executors.

2. Giant convincing vision

Investors want your story.

What you do, where you’re taking this business, and how you’ll get there.

What’s that bold, almost-crazy vision you’re chasing—the one that makes people stop and pay attention?

Sam Altman, the CEO of Open AI and a seasoned investor says that the best founders are the ones that can concisely communicate what they do in less than 25 words.

And, while I won’t say word count should be your benchmark, the ability to convey your vision clearly, comprehensively, and without confusion is really important.

In one of his Twitter threads, Matt Lerner, the co-founder of SYSTM explains the importance of language/market fit for early-stage startups.

Exactly how you should be crafting your vision for investors.

A compelling vision isn’t just about what you’re building—it’s about making investors immediately see the potential. 

Here’s a quick table to illustrate how refining your vision can make it instantly more investable: 

See the difference? 👀

The takeaway: Learn to craft a story, narrative, and vision that doesn’t just explain your product—but makes it impossible to ignore.

3. Great market

You can pivot your product, but you can’t pivot into a market that doesn’t want what you’re selling. A bad market is a dead end, no matter how good your execution is.

Conversely, if the market is great, even the basic viable product will gain traction, given that product-market fit exists.

Now, what’s a great market, and how do you know yours is one?  

A great market has:

• Rapid expansion with high growth potential
• Scalable total addressable market (TAM)
• Gaps in current product/service offerings
• Strong customer demand with pressing unmet needs
• A significant chunk of target customers willing to pay
• Room for new players, despite competition
• The perfect time to enter, driven by industry shifts

A great market creates its own momentum, attracting growth, capital, and talent.

In such markets, customers are actively looking for solutions, meaning startups don’t need to chase them. They just need to deliver something viable to start growing.

Ultimately, investors will always place their money in a great market—not just a great team, a great product, or even a promising execution.

Now, don’t count on your product creating a market from scratch. Unless your product or idea is magically far ahead of the curve, it may gain the support of investors. Just like AirBnB.

Did you know: Investors laughed at Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia’s idea of renting air mattresses in strangers’ homes. But the founders saw what others didn’t—a massive, underserved market. Hotels were expensive, and travelers wanted cheaper, flexible stays.

A few product iterations, customer validation, and persistence later, they convinced investors that the demand was already there—they just needed the right platform to capture it.

The takeaway: Make the market irresistible for your investors. Demonstrate that your business has high scalable growth with undeniable demand.

4. Product and traction

Now, despite a good market, you would see many startups failing.

And, while there are many reasons for this, most can be traced back to one core issue—product/market misfit.

At its core, this means your product isn’t meeting the needs of your target market, even at a baseline level.

Investors want proof that your product isn’t one of those misfits.

And how do you prove that? 

Traction!

Talk to your target audience. Understand their pain points. And refine your product based on actual feedback.

Show proof that people are willing to commit—whether it’s through sales, pre-orders, sign-ups, or strong user engagement.

But if you don’t have those yet, here are other ways to demonstrate traction:

• Customer testimonials: Gather real feedback that validates your product’s impact
• Demonstrate your MVP: Don’t explain. Demonstrate how your product/service solves the problem, even in its early form
• Intellectual property (IP): Highlight if you have patents or proprietary tech that give you a competitive edge
• Strong team additions: Tell them if you have hired a key executive or industry expert

Traction instills investors’ confidence that your business has the potential to achieve much more—with the right funding and support.

As you work toward product-market fit, remember—it’s not a single milestone you reach and move on from. It’s a spectrum that evolves as your company grows.

Shreyas Doshi, a former product leader at Stripe, explains this dynamic nature of product-market fit with the following visual.

The takeaway: Gather real-market feedback before you seek funding from investors

You now know what investors look for before investing in a business.

Generally, a solid fronting on all these aspects will increase your chance of securing an investment. However, to prove that your business excels in these aspects, you need a pitch deck.

What to include in an investor’s pitch deck?

Yes, Pitch decks have to be visually appealing. But more than that, it should be clear, contextual, and backed with real data.

Well, your pitch is likely to encapsulate everything that the investors want to see if you include these key slides in it:

1. Cover slide

Just a couple of business basics like business name, tagline, logo, presenter name, and your ultimate vision or the USP.

2. Problem and solution

Highlight the core problem your business would solve and the solution you have to offer. This is your chance to convince the investors that the problem you’re chasing is real.

To make this section relevant, add a narrative and a personal anecdote that your audience can relate to.

3. Target market and opportunity

Prove that the problem is not only real but has a sizable market opportunity, i.e. market size. Use statistics, data, and primary findings to back your claims.

Through buyer’s persona and market segmentation offer a clear understanding of your target audience and where you will find them.

4. Product and service

Highlight your core product and service offerings. If possible, include images, 2-D renders, videos, and MVP to make your product more tangible.

In this section, clearly outline the benefits and features of your products. But don’t overwhelm the readers with excessive information overload.

5. Go-to-market strategy

Demonstrate your customer attraction, conversion, and retention plan. Discuss your sales funnel and processes along with your strategies to fuel sales and marketing.

6. Business model and revenue streams

Explain how your business will generate revenue and discuss your pricing strategies. Take a reference of the competitive landscape and showcase where your company fits in the market in terms of pricing.

Whether you charge a premium or less than competitors, this slide should back your claims and support the argument with solid reasoning.

7. The team

This slide is your chance to instill investors’ confidence in your ability to execute the idea. Boast if needed but highlight the strengths, past experience, expertise, and key achievements of the people in leadership and management positions that can benefit your business.

If you’ve bought in an industrial expert or a renowned individual on board, demonstrate how their presence adds credibility and strategic value to your company.

8. Traction and validation

If your business has seen any real success—whether in sales, pre-orders, sign-ups, real-market feedback, or customer testimonials—show it.

Investors want proof of demand, not just projections.

9. Financial projections

Investors would require detailed financial statements and projections later on. But for now, they need a highly crisp overview of expenses, sales, revenue, and when you expect to break even.

Make use of charts, graphs, infographics, and visuals to convey these essential numbers.

10. Funding

Clearly outline how much funding you’re seeking and what you’re offering in return. Investors want to know where their money will go and how it will drive growth and scalability.

Break down your funding utilization plan—whether it’s for product development, marketing, hiring, or expansion.

If this is a virtual pitch deck, include a clear CTA for investors to schedule a meeting and continue the conversation.

Create your winning pitch deck with Upmetrics

If you have the right team, a solid idea, and a market with huge potential, attracting and convincing investors becomes much easier—as long as your pitch deck does justice to your vision.

Sure, putting together slides might take just a few hours, but the real work lies in the research, strategy, and planning that shape every word and number on those slides. Investors need data-driven, insight-backed, structured pitch decks that can convince them of your business impact and potential.

Exactly what Upmetrics can help with. With its AI-powered pitch deck generator, you get the structure, support, and AI-driven insights needed to turn your ideas into a compelling, investor-ready deck.

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