# Prepare for investor talks

Decide whether outside funding fits, order your evidence, know your numbers and bring the right questions to your counsel before you speak with any investor.

Canonical URL: https://worldenterprise.org/playbooks/prepare-for-investor-conversations/
Last updated: 2026-10-10
Publisher: World Enterprise, run by World Enterprise Group Incorporated

## The steps

1. **Decide whether outside funding fits your company.** Compare the routes open to you, including customer revenue, grants and outside investment, and write down what each asks of you. Outside funding is one route, and it is not a milestone every company needs to reach.
2. **Order your evidence before you write a pitch.** Gather customer records, metrics with written definitions, company records and a cap table into an evidence pack, ordered so a reader can find each item. Investors test claims against records, so records come first.
3. **Know your numbers and be able to explain them.** Be ready to explain your runway, your burn, your metrics and the assumptions behind each, using the definitions you wrote. A number you cannot explain does more harm than one you leave out.
4. **Bring your questions to your own counsel before you speak with anyone.** Ask your counsel about the instruments, the rules that apply when a company looks for investment and what you may say and to whom. Write the answers down and follow your counsel's advice.
5. **Choose investors by fit and plan your time.** Write a short list of investors whose stage, sector and way of working match your company, with the reason for each. Budget the founder time that conversations take, because it comes out of the time you spend on customers.
6. **Keep a conversation log and a regular update.** Record each conversation, what was asked and what you promised to send. Send short updates on a regular schedule so that the people who have heard from you can see progress in your own records.

## What you will have at the end

- An evidence pack ordered against a standard index
- Metrics with written definitions
- A runway and burn calculation with its assumptions
- A list of questions for your counsel with the answers
- A short list of investors with the reason for each
- A conversation log and update record