What investors actually look at first

When an investor opens your Dealum profile, they're doing a fast credibility scan. The difference between getting "tell me more" and "sorry, I'm out" often comes down to how you answer the first 3-4 questions they look at.

They're looking for traction that proves the market wants what you're building, a problem worth solving, and a team that can actually execute. If they don't see these signals immediately, they move on.

Your Dealum profile is a sales pitch to someone who sees 50 of these a week, has decision fatigue, and is pattern-matching for reasons to say no.

Company description: One clear sentence

Use a descriptive sentence, not a marketing one.

The one-liner formula that works: [Company name] is developing [a defined offering] to help [a defined audience] [solve a problem] with [secret sauce].

Don't write: "We're a revolutionary AI-powered platform leveraging cutting-edge technology to transform the future of enterprise workflow optimization."

Do write: "ChurnGuard is developing a customer health monitoring system to help B2B SaaS companies reduce early-stage churn with automated risk detection and intervention recommendations."

Generic descriptions disappear in the noise. Clear outcomes make investors pause.

Problem statement: Make it hurt

Investors fund solutions to problems they believe are urgent and actually understand. Show you understand the pain.

One investor told us: "I look at the problem, solution, traction, and what they've achieved so far. I make my initial judgment based on those 3-4 answers."

Don't write: "Companies struggle with inefficient processes that impact productivity."

Do write: "B2B SaaS companies lose 30% of new customers in the first 90 days because they can't identify at-risk accounts until it's too late. We talked to 50 Customer Success teams, and 43 said they find out about churn risk from cancellation emails."

The second version is specific, urgent, and shows you actually understand your customer's pain. If an investor reads your problem statement and thinks "yeah, I can see why that would be painful," you've won the first round.

Solution: Make it crystal clear how it works

As one evaluator put it: "The most important thing is to make it super clear how this solution works. If I cannot understand what it does and how it works, it's going to get lower marks because it lacks credibility. Simple language, outline the concept clearly."

Don't write: "Our platform utilizes advanced algorithms to optimize engagement through intelligent automation and data-driven insights."

Do write: "When a customer's usage drops below their 30-day average, our system automatically alerts the CSM and suggests three specific actions based on what worked for similar customers. The CSM reviews and sends the intervention in two clicks."

Too many founders try to sound sophisticated and end up overcomplicating their explanations. If someone has to read it twice to understand what you actually do, you've already lost them.

Traction: Numbers, not adjectives

Show specific metrics. "Growing rapidly," "Strong user engagement," or "Significant market interest" means nothing.

Don't write: "We have impressive traction with growing customer adoption and positive market feedback."

Do write: "€40K MRR, growing 15% month-over-month. 23 paying customers, average contract value €2,100/year, 6-month retention at 91%. Three customers came from referrals."

Specific numbers, even if they're small, are infinitely more credible than vague claims of success.

Here's what matters at different stages:

• Pre-revenue: Pilot customers, LOIs, partners actively using your product
• Early revenue: MRR/ARR, growth rate, customer count, retention
• Growth stage: Unit economics, CAC/LTV, expansion revenue, churn rates

Vanity metrics (app downloads, waitlist signups, social followers) don't count unless they directly tie to revenue or product usage.

Financials: Enter your data

One investor told us they jump straight to the Finance section before reading anything else. If you're actively fundraising or showing momentum, reporting your financial data can be a powerful credibility signal.

Entering key metrics and granting deal room access allows investors to see progress over time. This is especially valuable if your company has made meaningful advances in recent months—revenue growth, customer acquisition, product development, or partnerships.

Be clear about:

• Current revenue and growth trajectory
• Burn rate and runway
• Unit economics (if you have them)
• Key financial milestones hit or upcoming

If you don't have revenue yet, explain what you do have: pre-orders, LOIs, pilot commitments. An empty financial section raises more questions than honest numbers, even if they're small.

Clear reporting helps investors understand not only where you are, but how fast you're moving. It also reduces follow-up questions and makes internal investor discussions easier.

Team: Relevant experience beats prestige

Investors invest in teams that can execute. Your job is to show them why your team is positioned to win in this specific market.

One investor told us: "First, I check if it's in scope—SEIS eligibility, cheque size, sector, country. Then I ask: does it make my heart flutter with joy? The founder, the solution, and... the founder."

At a minimum, include all founders and C-level management team members. Each person should have a short description highlighting relevant experience and a direct link to their LinkedIn profile. This saves investors time and increases confidence.

Don't write: "Our team is passionate and experienced with backgrounds at top companies."

Do write: "CEO: Built and sold a marketing SaaS to [Company], know the customer pain firsthand. CTO: Led engineering at [relevant company], built scalable systems for 500K+ users. Advisors include [Customer Success leader] at Salesforce."

Why is your team uniquely positioned to solve this problem? Highlight previous exits, domain expertise, relevant work, or projects you've built together.

The ask: Strategic, not vague

Show you know your numbers and your plan. "We're seeking €500K" isn't enough. Investors want to know what you'll do with their money and why now is the right time.

Don't write: "Seeking €500K to grow the team and expand our market presence."

Do write: "Raising €500K to scale from €40K to €150K MRR in 12 months. Funding covers: 2 sales hires (we're turning down inbound leads), 1 customer success hire (retention is our moat), and €10K/month in paid acquisition (CAC payback is 4 months). Current runway: 8 months."

Vague asks show you haven't thought through your business model.

Media section: Use video to add clarity

The media section allows you to add a video link, which is often a valuable opportunity.

A short pitch video or product demo can make your profile more engaging and easier to understand. Video is especially useful for complex products, hardware, or platforms that benefit from visual explanation.

The key is length and focus. A short, well-prepared video that explains what the product does and why it matters is far more effective than a long, unfocused recording.

Pitch deck: Less, but sharper

Adding a public pitch deck to your shareable company page can significantly improve investor understanding, but only if done thoughtfully.

Many angel investors and BAN members repeatedly point out the same issue: founders upload long, text-heavy decks that read like essays. These decks are rarely finished and often not even opened.

A strong pitch deck should be short, visual, and focused. It should highlight the problem, solution, market, traction, team, and fundraising ask without trying to explain every detail. Think of it as a conversation starter, not a complete data room.

If your deck requires deep reading to be understood, it's too long for this context.

The shareable company page

One of the most underused strengths of Dealum is the shareable company page. Investors you've applied to can open this page and share the link with other investors if they see potential.

This means your company page must work even without you in the room explaining it.

Before considering your page finished, do a simple reality check: Share your Dealum company page with a friend, advisor, or fellow founder who has never heard your pitch and ask them to explain back to you what the company does, who it is for, and why it matters. If they can't do this confidently without additional explanation, the page needs work.

A strong shareable page enables warm intros to travel further. It reduces friction for investors who want to loop in partners, syndicate members, or colleagues.

Red flags that get you skipped

Investors are looking for reasons to say no. Don't give them easy ones:

Buzzword overload: "AI-powered blockchain disruption leveraging synergistic paradigms" signals you don't understand your own business.

No traction story: If you have zero traction, explain why this round will change that.

Unclear business model: If they can't figure out how you make money in 30 seconds, they won't spend 60 seconds trying.

Generic market sizing: "The market is worth €10B" without explaining how you'll capture any of it is noise.

Team gaps without acknowledgement: If you're missing a critical co-founder (solo founder without a CTO in a deep tech startup), either address it or explain your plan.

AI-generated everything: Yes, we all use AI. But if you let it write your entire profile without making it sound like you, it shows. Worse, when you get to the meeting and can't articulate the same answers in your own words, the investor will know you didn't actually think through your business.

Before sTARTUp Day: Update your profile

If you submitted your Dealum application months ago with one-sentence answers just to get accepted, now is the time to go back and fill it out properly. Even if you're already attending, you can still edit your profile.

Investors are reviewing profiles right now, deciding which founders to prioritize for meetings. A half-finished profile signals you're not serious. A complete, specific, well-articulated profile signals you're worth their time.

Go to your Dealum profile. Read it as if you're an investor seeing it for the first time. Would you book a meeting based on what you see?

Your profile is working for you—or against you

A strong profile gets you the meeting. The meeting gets you deeper conversations. Those conversations get you the term sheet.

But none of that happens if your profile doesn't survive the initial scan. Founders spend hours perfecting their Brella messages and conference strategy, then wonder why investors who had access to their profile never reached out.

sTARTUp Day creates momentum through meetings, pitches, and introductions. Your Dealum profile is what sustains that momentum once the event floor quiets down and conversations move online. A strong profile doesn't try to impress with volume. It communicates clearly, respects investor time, and makes it easy for others to understand and pass the opportunity forward.

The investors reviewing profiles before sTARTUp Day aren't ignoring you because they're too busy. They're passing because you didn't give them a reason to stop and take notice.

Update your profile this week. Make those first few answers count. The investors are looking—make sure they can actually see you.

P.S. Treat your Dealum profile like the business clarity exercise it actually is. Founders who take it seriously often tell us it forced them to articulate things they'd been avoiding. If you can't answer a question clearly in your profile, you won't be able to answer it in the meeting either.

______________________

The Dealum seminar at sTARTUp Day, “Lost in Translation. How to Pitch Complex Ideas to Any Investor” on 29 January from 14:00 in Seminar room 3, focuses on a reality many founders face: investors often do not immediately understand complex, technical, or specialised ideas, and it is the founder’s responsibility to bridge that gap.