Have you ever done something difficult? This may seem weird, but investors like to know that you’ve shown an ability to overcome and adapt when times get hard. Being a founder is extremely difficult, and without evidence that you can overcome, even with the best pitch, investors will be concerned that it will all fall apart when you hit your first major roadblock.

Have you ever built something? Building something is hard. There is a big difference between an idea and a product. Whether it is this company or something in the past. Have you ever built something? This is something investors need to know.

Can you sell? With the rise of AI, building products is becoming increasingly easy. Being able to market and sell is the new challenge. Can you do it? Do you have proof?

Are you solving a real problem? Once they know that you are someone who is determined, can build and can sell, they want to know that you are focused on solving the right problem. The first step is figuring out if that problem even exists. You should have plenty of evidence of the pain points that your target consumer is facing.

Is your unique perspective believable? Every startup believes one thing that the market incumbents don’t. What is that? And is it good enough to put millions of dollars into your business believing you can unseat incumbents? That is the challenge. You need to convince investors that you have a billion-dollar perspective.