Pitching accelerators, incubators, and early-stage investors

Early-stage programs and investors decide in much the same way. A small group listens to a short pitch, asks hard questions, checks what you say against what you have written, and decides whether to back the team. These guides explain how that decision is made and how to prepare for it.

The guides draw on patterns observed across a large number of early-stage selection interviews in seven sectors, from software and semiconductors to fintech. They describe what evaluators asked, what landed, and what ended pitches early. No company or person is identified.

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Where to start

Read the general guide first. It covers what applies to every pitch, and the sector guides build on it. Then read the guide for your sector, the founder-situation guide if any of its situations apply to your team, and the program guide if you are applying there.

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The general guide

Preparing to pitch an accelerator, incubator, or early-stage investor What evaluators decide and how to prepare the numbers and the deck. Also covers handling the room and rehearsing the hard questions, plus what happens out of sight while you pitch.

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Sector guides

AI startups Defensibility, the frontier-model question, developer tools, traction, and the tells that mark a pitch as AI-written. Also covers software that does not depend on AI.

Semiconductor startups Proof on real equipment, access to fab data, getting into the fab, turning technical gains into dollars, and the path to tapeout.

Bio, medtech, and health startups Data, regulatory pathways, business models by segment, IP, and who funds the next round.

Robotics and physical AI startups What you own versus open source, field proof, cost per task, the first deployment, and safety and liability.

Space, defense, and dual-use startups Working prototypes, survivability, naming the program office, non-dilutive funding, and export and ownership rules.

Climate tech startups Economics before emissions, scale-up, capital intensity, and policy dependence, across energy and materials as well as agriculture and water.

Fintech startups Regulation and risk, distribution through incumbents, unit economics, and performance claims, for payments and lending as well as insurtech and regtech.

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Founder situations

Founder situations that change how you pitch Solo founders, part-time and faculty founders, scientist-led teams, international founders, student and first-time founders, co-founder dynamics, and repeat applicants.

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Program guides

Getting into Berkeley SkyDeck Who can apply, the stages, who decides, how scoring works, the investment terms, the first round and the final, and what the committee values.

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Five things that apply to every pitch

1. Say what you make, and who pays for it, before anything else. The most common cause of a fast rejection is that nobody can tell what the company does.
2. Answer "why can't someone bigger do this" with a structural reason. Speed and focus rarely hold up as answers.
3. Do the arithmetic before the evaluators do. Every number you state will be checked against the others.
4. Name your gaps yourself, with a plan and a date. Evaluators expect imperfect teams and react badly only to gaps they discover.
5. Come back changed. In any second meeting, open with what you did with the feedback from the first.