Jason M. Lemkin explains how to build investor trust in your pitch. Show relevant lived experience on your team slide, like Airbnb founders using hosting to pay rent. Clearly label roles and skip personal stories unless asked.
If we go back to Airbnb, they could literally talk about how they were starving startup founders who couldn't pay their rent. And the first time they did this, they set up a website for design conference hosted three guests so they could pay their rent. If you can weave how you've experienced the problem into the team slide, suddenly I think of you as an expert. Now what do people screw up? No titles. I don't know what the roles are. I don't know who the CEO is. If I'm an early stage investor, I'm trusting the CEO with money. If I don't know who they are, who am I trusting? Number two, who writes code? Here's a hint. There is no opportunity in your pitch to tell your life story unless the investor asks explicitly for your life story and you should double confirm they want to hear your life story. No life stories. And then the.
