Is Your Pitch Magnetic?
At Impact Stars, we believe that:
No impact entrepreneur with a promising solution should struggle to raise money.
And yet…
Many spend years chasing money when money should be chasing them.
Hi! I’m Neesha, founder of Impact Stars, and creator of the Magnetic Pitch Method. I’m on a mission to make it much easier for impact entrepreneurs to access the capital they need to fund their important work.
I’ve been delighted to see new investors enter the climate and impact space. Visionary capital allocators are finding their way to climate, energy transition, biodiversity, oceans, the circular economy, and regeneration.
A phoenix is rising from the ashes of the old economy, and it is a privilege to be part of this renaissance at such a critical moment in time.
But why are startups with incredible potential still struggling to attract the capital they need?
I see three main issues:
Market potential unclear,
Team doesn’t inspire confidence,
Lack of product validation.
Problem #1: Market potential unclear
How does your solution fit into the larger context of the market?
Most startups struggle to communicate this with crystal clarity.
It’s likely that you’ve immersed yourself in the weeds of your innovation.
It’s hard to step back and see the forest for the trees.
Investors either don’t agree with you on the size of the market.
Or they feel you haven’t done due diligence to validate your hypothesis.
Other times, startups fail to capture a funder’s imagination — especially in the climate space — where you may be ahead of the demand curve.
This lands your pitch deck smack-dab in the middle of the rejection trash bin.
Problem #2: Team doesn’t inspire confidence
Investors like to see a stacked team or at least an impressive advisory board.
They also want co-founders that have what it takes to execute, especially if you’re a first-time founder.
In early stage startups without product-market fit, investors are investing in YOUR POTENTIAL, not so much in the idea you’re pitching them.
So they are thinking to themselves, “is this person someone I trust and want to do business with?”
Do you come across as coachable?
Do you surround yourself with A+ players?
Who else have you magnetized to your startup even without any capital?
What do people say about you?
Can they pull this off?
These are just a FEW of the questions going through an investor’s mind. Climate Tech founders from scientific / technical backgrounds tend to struggle with this one.
Problem #3: Lack of product validation
So let’s say, you’ve got a stacked team and advisory board.
And the market opportunity is HUGE and you’re communicating it flawlessly.
The next question on any investor’s mind is… what is so unique about this product or idea you’re working on?
A few of the many questions they are asking are:
Does it have a ‘moat?"‘ Or can anyone just copy/paste and do exactly what you’re doing?
How is what you’re proposing different from others in the market?
Are customers clamoring this solution - have you spoken to anyone to validate that this is a ‘hair on fire’ problem that they will pay for? Or is this a ‘blue ocean’ solution that will create a whole new category that has never existed before?
How long will this take? I spoke to an investor who went in early into a biochar startup and got burned. The market wasn’t ready then but it is definitely heating up now.
Most important for climate impact investors and grant makers — will this make a dent at a gigaton scale or create massive systems change at an ecosystem level? Or is it a neat invention but doesn’t offer an exponential return on impact (ROIM)?
One founder shared with me that he raised most of his round but at a high personal cost. He had 50-70 Zoom investor meetings over 18 months and after relentless follow up, he didn’t fill the entire round. He faced rejection, radio silence, and as he put it, “It sure takes the fun out of fundraising to be running uphill with the wind in your face.”
With the economic winds hinting at a downturn, the Funding Hill will get even harder to climb — and not just for climate funders.
There is a better way: a faster, less soul-sucking way to raise money.
I call it the MAGNETIC PITCH METHOD because I designed it to magnetize the right funding partners in less time, with minimum loss of self-confidence or sanity.
Is it all sunshine and rainbows? No - it is hard work upfront, but it makes climbing the Funding Hill much easier.
The Magnetic Pitch Method invites you to take off your Rose-Colored Entrepreneur Glasses and deep-dive into the needs of your right-fit investors, and your customers.
By deeply understanding how your audience thinks and anticipating their fears, uncertainties, and doubts, you learn to communicate with them effectively while staying in integrity with yourself and your mission.
The secret to crafting a Magnetic Pitch?
Answer the questions in your investor’s head and dissolve all their objections before they become obstacles.
Essentially, think like a funder, not like a founder.
Hear what Brenna had to say about her experience with Magnetic Pitch.
“They asked me:
"Are you the same person who pitched to us two weeks ago?"
Because of the absolute transformation that had happened both with my pitch deck and with my confidence.
I was having a conversation, and not so much just rattling off facts.
So what Neesha gave me was truly priceless.
As a founder we often feel like everything is on our shoulders.
You know, people will give you a piece of advice or criticism, but they won't really tell you how to fix those holes or those gaps or those mistakes that you're making.
Neesha, on the other hand, well, she will show you and she will tell you how to fix them.
I could not be more grateful to Neesha… she is so unique in the way that she helps founders. And so the best decision you could possibly make for your business is to listen to her and to take her advice.”
-Brenna Bales, ReefVitalize
The Magnetic Pitch Method shows startup founders to think like capital allocators so they can anticipate their questions before they arise.
"Fundraising is hard, vulnerable, and frustrating."
The Magnetic Pitch Method makes it easier, faster, and dare I say — fun.
How long is the sprint?
90 Days
Expect to spend 2 hours a day, 3 days a week completing your deliverables for the sprint. You can do it on the weekend. We will have one meeting once a week to set your goals and report your progress.
If you’d like to go faster, you can do so. But at the end of 90 days, your pitch deck will be so bulletproof that you will be ready to answer any question thrown at you by investors — or even customers.
What does it cost?
$7,500 paid in 3 installments for the group cohort.
Accelerators, please request pricing based on the number of seats you require.
Upgrade to a 1:1 model which includes a Fractional Chief Strategy + Business Development Officer for an extra $2,500 - $5,000 per month. This is recommended for certain startups with new and complex business models and unclear funding pathways that require a lot of work on our end.
What do you walk away with?
3 Assets:
Takeaway Deck: self explanatory slides, no audio — when an investor says, “send me your pitch deck.”
Presentation Deck: slides with minimal text that you present in person or on Zoom.
Video Deck: a high-level version of slides with your voiceover, that you can email to cold leads, to get them interested in your startup.
The first thing we’ll do is validate your business to make sure you’re building something customers will buy and investors will fund:
Is this just another course?
Nope. I hate courses because I never finish them.
This is a step-by-step sprint where you actually get things done.
At the end of the sprint, you have an incredibly compelling and investor-ready pitch deck. The video below (“Who’s Your Competition?”) is one of the only long videos you’ll need to watch (most are under 10 minutes). This one is a bit longer because it’s an area that often trips up entrepreneurs. If you can get through it, the others will be a breeze:
Do the work once during the Magnetic Pitch Sprint, reuse it again and again.
Repurpose this foundational content asset to win customer contracts, grant funding, and prizes.
Ready to take your pitch from MEH to MAGNETIC in 90 days?
Join the Magnetic Pitch - Summer of Fundraising Fiesta from June 16 - September 1, 2023.
It’s not right for you if…
You don’t plan to do the work: The Magnetic Pitch Sprint can give you everything you need but you have to take action to see results. Are you willing to show up and be ‘all-in?’
You don’t like to hear the truth: For example, you may find out that your startup won’t qualify for funding, and you need to pivot to make it fundable.
You aren’t coachable: Some founders are so in love with their ideas that they find it hard to consider other perspectives or ways of seeing things. Magnetic Pitch is a powerful way of approaching fundraising, but it will challenge you and take you a bit out of your comfort zone at times. Are you okay with that?
Tired of being rejected because you don’t “look the part?” Been there, done that. Show them a pitch they can’t say no to even if they struggle to pronounce your name. My last name is Mirchandani - so I get it!
FAQs
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It is a structured framework to craft a pitch deck that’s so rigorous and rooted in how investors think that by the time you pitch it, you are confident it will magnetize the right ones to you and repel the wrong ones. One investor said, “If it gets through Neesha’s standards, it will get through mine.” But here’s the fine print: Magnetic Pitch Sprint is a deep, thoughtful and structured series of ACTIONS that force you to take a hard look at your business with an investor’s eyes. I want you to get your fundamentals right before you craft a single slide.
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Even though it’s called the Magnetic Pitch Sprint, what we are really doing is validating the underlying thesis for your startup. This is what makes it irresistible to your RIGHT FIT FUNDERS. You learn to poke holes at your hypotheses, pressure-test them, and then build a deck that is bullet-proof (or as close to that as possible). The Magnetic Pitch is the result of your hard work.
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You are actively raising money or getting ready to — and you’d like to understand how investors think. Many of my clients have been through (or are going through) incubators and accelerators. They find it very complementary to learn how to think like an investor. Startup support organizations like Seaworthy Collective, Larta National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration SBIR program, and others have invited me to mentor / judge at demo day because my approach does not conflict with their approach.
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Not at all. The Magnetic Pitch Sprint can be applied to any kind of capital. It is focused on the fundamentals of your business, and once that core thesis is strong, you can use it as the foundation for your grant proposals, your applications to prizes, and even in your customer presentations. How you use and re-use your Magnetic Pitch Deck is up to you! The sky’s the limit.
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Most investors today won’t even tell you why they rejected you because they don’t want to hurt your feelings or frankly are afraid of being cancelled. The Magnetic Pitch Sprint removes all the typical pitfalls that trip up most startup founders.
If your pitch is amazing, an investor can still pass because they have a similar company they just invested in that’s competitive to yours or their partners didn’t feel as convinced as they did. Or they didn’t feel the chemistry.
So while we can’t guarantee investors will wire you a check mesmerized by your magnetic pitch, we can guarantee you will find it exponentially easier to get a meeting just based on the deck you send out. The rest is up to you, Lady Luck, and factors out of our control.
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Connecting you to the right investors is NOT currently part of the Magnetic Pitch Sprint. But in the future, it may be IF there is interest on both sides. Stay tuned! We practice what we preach :-) Validate, then build!
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Yes - please contact us for details via our contact form. Learning how to Think Like an Investor and create a Magnetic Pitch helps founders not just with fundraising, but also in validating their hypothesis and tuning into the needs of their customers. The pitch deck they create will be the foundation of other assets they will create in the future — from grant proposals to customer presentations — so it is the gift that keeps on giving.
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Yes. We would be happy to provide sponsorships honoring the visibility or privacy you prefer, and do the outreach to bring in more diversity and representation to the table. Contact us to brainstorm further.
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I do help a few clients on a 1:1 basis. I offer Pitch Audits if you’re pretty sure you’re on the right track because your message is resonating with investors but you want to make it truly magnetic.
I also offer Magnetic Pitch Makeovers that are a lot more involved.
Please contact me to see if there’s a fit.
