What to have in order before you start raising — in the order investors actually check it.
Before a single slide is designed, you should be able to say — out loud, in under 90 seconds — what the company does, why now, why you, and what the money is for. If that takes longer than 90 seconds or needs a slide to make sense, the narrative isn't ready yet, and no amount of deck polish fixes that.
A TAM slide with a $50B number and no visible math is a red flag, not a strength. Investors want to see how you got the number and, more importantly, what slice of it is realistically reachable at your stage. Bottom-up sizing (unit economics × addressable customers) reads as far more credible than a top-down market report citation.
Cap table, incorporation documents, IP assignments, key contracts, and financials that reconcile — organized before an investor asks, not assembled in a scramble after a term sheet. Missing or messy IP assignment (especially from early contractors or co-founders who've since left) is one of the most common reasons a promising deal stalls at diligence.
Investors will call people you didn't list, not just the ones you did. Think honestly about what a former colleague, a past investor, or someone who left the company would actually say — and address the gap before it surfaces in a call you don't control. This is exactly what a Growth Readiness Diligence report does in a structured, consent-based way instead of leaving it to chance.
The best deck sent to the wrong fund still gets a no. Know each target investor's stage, check size, sector focus and existing portfolio before you reach out — a warm introduction through a network that already vouches for you (see VC House EU) consistently outperforms cold outreach, even with an identical deck.
If you're a Ukrainian defense or dual-use founder, add one more item: clarity on export control, IP ownership and where revenue can legally flow internationally. This is the single biggest diligence gap we see in this sector — not the technology. See our defense-tech track for how we help close it.