Investors ask the same 12 questions in 12 different framings. Prepare answers; rehearse them; deliver them with the lightness of someone who has thought hard about the problem.
The 90-second pitch. 1 line on problem · 1 line on solution · 1 line on traction · 1 line on team · 1 line on ask. Don't deliver the 10-minute deck. The investor is testing whether you can be concise.
Three forces (regulatory / technological / behavioural). Avoid "post-COVID" or "with AI". Get specific: "RBI's 2024 cross-border settlement rules opened the corridor pricing window we operate in".
Don't list achievements. Tell one story that makes them feel only this team could solve this. "My co-founder spent 6 years at Wise running treasury for the SEA corridor. He saw a class of orders that his system kept rejecting. That's our wedge."
Three competitors named, with what each does well and how you're different. Never say "we have no competition" — that means either you don't understand your market or there's no market.
The Thiel four: proprietary tech, network effects, scale, brand. Pick the one or two you genuinely own. If your honest answer is "speed of execution" — that's not a moat; that's a current advantage.
CAC, LTV, gross margin, payback. Numbers, not narratives. "Blended CAC ₹38K, LTV ₹4.2L, gross margin 71%, payback 9 months." If you don't have these, say so honestly and explain how you're building toward them.
Investor is testing your honesty. Three honest risks, with mitigations. "(1) Regulatory shift in cross-border settlement — mitigated by 4-corridor diversification. (2) Customer concentration — top 5 customers are 38% of revenue, target <25% by Q4. (3) FX volatility eating margin — natural hedge via stablecoin pool."
Pick one. Defend it. "Net dollar retention. Without it, we can't get to a Series A; with it, we can absorb churn and grow into our market." Investors test whether you have a North Star metric or are tracking everything.
Top-down (revenue assumptions) → bottom-up (drivers) → output (cash, runway). Open the spreadsheet. Show the drivers tab. Change one driver to demonstrate how the model responds. The exercise of stress-testing your own model in front of an investor is the test.
Three reasons: (1) it's not their priority — they have a 1000-customer book; (2) it requires building infrastructure they'd have to undo to do; (3) they regulated themselves out of it. Pick your true reason.
Three comparables. "Comparable A raised at 10× ARR; B at 12× pipeline; C at $X seed pre-money. We're asking for 11×, which is the median." Numbers, not feelings.
"That's fine — happy to update you in 90 days, when [X metric] is at [Y]." Don't get desperate. Investors say no for many reasons. Treat each no as a delayed yes if you can show progress.
Real story. What you did. What you learned. What you changed. Don't say "I work too hard" — investors hate the false-modesty answer. Pick a real mistake with real lessons.