Fundraising involves multiple interactions with investors. It could be along these lines

  1. The opening 1 minute pitch
  2. Some slides that you send ahead to give a bit more detail
  3. A first one-on-one "coffee meeting" with an investor
  4. A full stand up pitch to the VC investor committee
  5. Follow up in due diligence meetings

For stage 5, investors probably ask you to show them answers to a 1000 different benchmarks and ratios. It is tempting to create a dedicated presentation with all the answers to all the questions that looks exactly as polished as your first investor pitch.

But maybe that is not necessary?

  • Investors want answers to specific questions, and are probably comfortable with browsing raw Excel data in an informal meeting. Some VCs actually like to query tools like Google Analytics or Mixpanel "live" in a meeting
  • Raw data shows authenticity and freshness, you are not trying to hide something
  • After one week, one month, all your custom-made PowerPoint charts will be out of date and you can do the whole exercise again
  • A CEO of a startup has better things to do than prettying up Excel data

If you go the raw data route, make sure though you understand your own numbers and do not get caught off guard in the meeting.
