• Allison Barr Allen is an angel investor and COO of Fast, a one-click login and payment startup.
• As a founder and investor, Barr Allen learned what it takes to secure seed funding.
• Always network and be ready to talk in depth about your company’s team and mission.

Alongside my day-to-day work as co-founder and COO of payment platform Fast, I’ve also managed a personal angel investment fund since 2019. The investors I work with review thousands of deals every year, but most end up funding only a handful of new ventures.

From my experience on both sides of the funding equation, I’ve learned six remarkable ways successful founders win over investors.

1. Network, network, network

As a founder, you shouldn’t meet an investor for the first time when you’re fundraising. Having a report or at least knowing each other before such a meeting makes a founder a more favorable candidate for investment.

Familiarity makes investing less risky. Having no strangers in the room makes a big difference, one being that when people know each other there is no need to introduce themselves or start from scratch.

You never know when you’ll be working with someone, so it’s important to network and build long-term relationships over months and years.

2. Dream big and solve a big problem

The first thing an investor looks for is a multi-billion dollar business in the making. To inspire that kind of trust, founders need to succinctly articulate the problem they’re solving, whether the space they’re in is big enough to generate billions of dollars in revenue, and how they’re different — and better — than their competitors. .

Investors understand that any business, especially a startup, will evolve, but the founder is still responsible for defining the short and long term goals of their business.

3. Surround yourself with a winning team

The second thing an investor is looking for is a strong team. Investors should feel ready to bank on a founder’s ability as a leader to build a stable and successful business, not just a good product.

This means a founder must demonstrate that they can hire the right people and lead a great organization. Investors also want to hear the story of how the company was founded and why everyone involved is passionate about being part of the team.

3. Build an outstanding pitch deck

A founder must sell their product and company to investors in 30 seconds. Why? An investor will quickly know – about 30 seconds after reviewing your deck – whether or not they want to have a formal meeting. Founders need to create pitch decks that will make investors want more.

Decks shouldn’t have a lot of text – the more visuals the better. Investors are looking for growth charts, data and metrics – these are the things that catch their eye as they scroll through their phones and tablets.

The bridge is also a good place to introduce your team. Investors want to know advisers and strategists involved in the company as well as executives. Give investors everything they need to know.

4. But don’t count on the pitch deck before the meeting

The job of a pitch deck is to secure meetings with investors. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they read the entire game, so they’ll come to the meeting wanting to know everything – that’s when it’s time to dig deeper.

Founders should be prepared to talk extensively about their company’s origin story, their company’s journey since launch, product details, roadmaps, competition and money, and to anticipate all the questions an investor might ask.

5. Remember that investors are human too

I grew up in a working middle class family in central Ohio. A year after graduating, I had extra money for the first time in my life and I didn’t know what to do with it. My parents, who didn’t know much about personal finance or investing, took me to the bank where I opened a brokerage account. From that moment, I became fascinated with investing. I found it magical that you could own part of a business and grow your money.

As a self-taught public equity investor, I use the knowledge I have accumulated over the years to invest in the next generation of global entrepreneurs. It’s not only money that I invest, it’s also my time and my experience.

Investors all have personal stories of how they became who they are. Founders should want to know as much about an investor as the investor wants to know about them. After all, a successful meeting could turn into a lasting relationship. It’s important to remember that while money is a huge factor in getting everyone into the room, there are humans behind the dollars.

While the media coverage gives the impression that founders are being suckered in and given billions of dollars just for existing, the reality is that big investments only come after careful scrutiny and scrutiny. As with any other major purchase, due diligence must be exercised and founders improve their chances when they present themselves as an opportunity that investors cannot afford to miss.

Allison Barr Allen is the co-founder and COO of Fast, the world’s fastest online login and payment platform. Previously, she was the head of global product operations for Uber’s Money team. In addition to her role at Fast, she is a limited partner at technology venture capital firm Operator Collective and founder of angel investment fund Trail Run Capital.