Pitch Perfect

The Tribe team knows pitching for investment is hard and often frustrating. We've been on your side of the fence, and as an asset manager, we are ourselves always pitching our own investors on behalf of potential investee companies.

Our process: pitching to Tribe

We ask founders to complete a simple online form with details of their venture and the investment they are seeking. We then review the information and do a little research, and if we like what we see, we invite you to an initial pitch call.

For the first pitch call we schedule 45 minutes, structured as follows:

• 3–5 min overview: step through a quick overview of your venture using the framework below.
• 25–40 min Q&A: conversation time, going deeper into what you have presented.
• 5–10 min questions to Tribe: your chance to ask anything you'd like to know about us.

After that first pitch call, we'll discuss the opportunity internally with our investment team and then come back to you either with a quick no, or an invitation to a further meeting to go deeper.

Tips when presenting to investors

1. Simple, linear flow

At the first pitch we have limited time and also want to respect yours, plus we don't know your market or business anywhere near as well as you do. Here is a suggested sequence for the first five minutes:

• The market or sector you are in
• Your ideal client/customer profile
• A clear statement of the problem
• Your product or service
• The business model (how you make your money)
• How you find leads and how you convert them into paying customers
• The size of the market
• Why you are backable
• Traction and results so far (eg ARR, monthly growth charts)
• Competitors and comparisons
• How much money you are seeking and key terms
• What you will do with that money
• You and your team

The flow doesn't have to be exactly the same, but we find the above more or less helps us unpack the opportunity faster. As an example, in order to evaluate you and your team, it really needs to be in the context of the market, the product, and the problem you are solving.

2. Avoid sharing too much too soon

The purpose of the first investment pitch paradoxically is not to get money. It is to get interest. There is no way anyone is handing over money after a single pitch. But often great opportunities get lost because you try to get too many points across and it just becomes confusing.

3. If you confuse, you lose

If we understand the market, the problem, your product, and like your traction, we'll seek to engage more. The points listed above should take no more than 10–12 minutes. If it's taking longer, it is likely you are going too deep too soon.

4. Avoid lots of moving parts

This may be more of a Tribe thing, but we are not excited by lots of moving parts at once. Our experience is that the riches are in the niches, rather than trying to execute on 10 different opportunities. "And we can do this, and that, and this" makes the opportunity seem bigger, but we often find the opposite.

We love to see focus

One market, with one big problem, that loves your one product, that you sell through one channel is far more exciting than something with lots of problems, products and channels.

The greatest companies all started with really focused products for really niche markets. Once they had exceptional success in these niches, they then expanded wide. Today we look at them and they have lots of different products for multiple markets. But they didn't add new markets and products for quite some time.

When to pitch to Tribe

Tribe focuses on B2B companies with proven demand, that have UK and US expansion on the roadmap.

The "proven demand" bit can be tricky as it can be different for different markets and products. In its simplest form, your business has found some level of product market fit and is growing revenues. You can demonstrate an ability to find new leads in a scalable manner, and when leads hear about the product, a good percentage engage.

But sometimes it's not that black and white, and revenues aren't growing yet but you have other traction that will lead to revenue growth in the future.

Our team prides ourselves on being as helpful as possible. So even if we find the opportunity is not a fit for Tribe, we do our best to refer you to places where it may be. And just because it isn't a fit today, doesn't mean it won't be tomorrow.