When pitching your startup to a potential investor or customer, you need to directly answer questions or you’ll lose credibility. Fundamentally, this isn’t only about how to pitch to angels or a VC fund; it’s about practicing the proper framework by which to answer questions. This takes practice and founders often fail to provide clear answers to many questions VC investors ask founders.

In your first meeting with investors, whether pitching angel investors vs venture capitalists, there will be questions founders need to answer using direct, short, and crisp statements. At Dreamit Ventures, we pressure test our startups so they’re ready for the tough questions investors ask. Steve Barsh, Managing Partner at Dreamit Ventures, suggests practicing your answers in the same way you’d play catch. You want to catch the question like it’s a baseball, look at it for a second, make sure you fully understand it, and finally throw it right back with your direct answer. These can be common questions VC investors ask startups, trick questions investors ask during pitching, or questions out of left-field that could possibly fly at you. It’s not only about the questions investors ask founders, but your questions to ask investors in the first meeting as well. This short five-minute Dreamit Dose is business advice you can’t afford to not follow.

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