For founders · Pitch guide

The Perfect Pitch

Build a pitch we can back

Investors back credible founders, not perfect businesses. This guide shows you exactly what GIN looks for and how to present it.

Start your pitch →

Before you apply, have answers to these:

→What does your business do, in one sentence?
→Who is the customer and what is the pain?
→What traction do you have — revenue, pilots, users?
→How much are you raising and what for?
→Why are you the team to build this?
→Is your business SEIS or EIS eligible?

Investors back credible founders, not perfect businesses.

A strong pitch balances ambition with evidence, clarity and believable execution. The founders who get funded are not necessarily the ones with the best idea. They are the ones who can demonstrate they understand their market, know their numbers, and are honest about where they are today.

What we look for

Six things that matter to us

Step 1 of 617% through

Your pitch deck, page by page

The eleven slides a pitch deck needs

First-time founder? This is the standard structure investors expect. Each slide has one job. Don’t skip any.

The Problem

Who has this problem and how do they solve it today? Be specific about the customer. The sharper the pain, the stronger the case.

The Solution

What your product does, right now, for that customer. Not the vision — the product as it exists today.

Traction

Honest positioning around current traction and operational reality. Revenue, users, retention, or letters of intent. If pre-revenue, name the evidence: a waitlist, pilot, or named customer interviews.

Market Size

Bottom-up only. “X thousand customers at £Y ARPU” beats “3% of a £10bn market.” Show the maths.

Why Now

What has changed that makes this the right moment? Regulation, behaviour shift, new infrastructure. If you can’t answer this clearly, the timing may not be right.

Competition

Name your real competitors, including the status quo. A clear differentiation narrative supported by market understanding is what convinces investors — not “we have no competition.”

Business Model

How you make money. Include CAC, LTV and margin — even rough figures. A believable growth story supported by a 3-year forecast carries far more weight than projections without a model behind them.

The Team

Strong articulation of founder and management expertise — not a CV. Why does your specific background give you an advantage here? Include the wider leadership team, name any gaps, and explain how you plan to fill them.

The Raise

How much, at what valuation or cap, on what instrument. State your SEIS or EIS status clearly and early — this matters to every UK angel reading your deck.

SEIS / EIS — state this early

Use of Funds

Show a clear investment roadmap: what this round funds, what milestone it reaches, and how that sets up the next stage. Not a list of costs — a trajectory.

Exit Routes

You don’t need a named buyer. You need a credible view of who might acquire you, or a realistic path to a later institutional round.

What lands and what doesn’t

Diligence runs throughout. Be straight from the start.

Syndicates compare notes. Anything overstated in a pitch surfaces in diligence. The cover-up is always worse than the fact.

The founders we back lead with what they don’t know, not just what’s going well. Honest positioning around your current traction and operational reality is not a weakness — it is what builds trust.

✓State your traction plainly, even if it’s small

✓Name your real competitors, including the status quo

✓Show the assumptions under your financial projections

✓Say what you need beyond capital — intros, customers, hires

✓Flag any cap table complexity upfront

✗“There’s no competition” — there is always competition

✗Revenue forecasts that jump aggressively without explanation

✗Leading with market size instead of the problem

✗Hiding a co-founder departure or a failed pivot

✗Investor funds requested without clear milestone planning

Our process

How we evaluate every pitch

Due diligence begins the moment we receive your deck and runs continuously throughout. Every decision is built on what we find — which is why honesty at every stage is not optional, it is the foundation.

Due
diligence
begins

Diligence
informs
every decision

Pitch submission

Submit your deck and a short summary. We read everything.

Expert evaluation

Your deck is reviewed by members with relevant sector experience. They are looking for the fundamentals: problem, traction, team, defensibility.

✗

Most pitches don’t pass this point

Only pitches where something credible has been identified continue beyond here.

90%

don’t continue

Initial decision

If your pitch reaches this point, something credible has been identified. We want to explore it further.

Initial questions and lead call

A GIN lead investor engages directly. Expect specific questions on the numbers, the market, and the team. Prepare to be precise.

Syndicate evaluation

The pitch is shared with the wider syndicate. Members review, ask questions, and signal interest. The diligence deepens.

Founder call

You meet the syndicate. This is as much about the person as the business. Be direct, be prepared, be yourself.

Final decision

A decision is reached based on the full picture built through diligence. If we invest, we move quickly. If we don’t, we’ll tell you why.

Need investor pitch assets, founder coaching or more?

GIN works with a network of experts in pitch preparation, financial modelling, deck design, and founder coaching. Contact us and we’ll put you in touch with the right person.

Get in touch →

Ready to pitch?

Submit your deck and a short summary. We read everything and respond within five working days.

Submit your pitch About GIN