It’s roughly midsummer. Investment deals are still being closed, but they generally tend to slow down or in many cases, take a bit longer in summer, as investors unplug a bit for the season, or at least spend less time vetting deals. They like to kick back, too: travel, spend time with their friends and/or families and generally spend more time minding their SPFs than the latest pitch deck that just came to them over the proverbial transom.

We host an Investor Insights – online – roughly every two weeks, with a different investor each time and have done for years. You’d be surprised at the number of founders who have gotten funded by investors they’ve met at this event, which we always post in our free newsletter.

Andrew Ackerman spoke at a recent Online Investor Insights, and shared great information, as the investors we host often do, each one imparting different advice from a unique perspective – and all valid. In fact, Ackerman, who has sat on both sides of the table as both a founder and an investor, recently published a book entitled The Entrepreneur’s Odyssey (25% off discount code: TEO25) which spells out what every founder needs to know.

First, founders, know your audience! Many of you are working on your pitch decks,  and although you might believe that your deck is ‘finished,’ as one investor said at one of our Online Insights, ‘your deck isn’t finished until the round is closed.’ Take feedback you’ve gotten from investors and make changes and alterations, if and when necessary.

And always do keep in mind that you’re addressing investors, not customers, and their focus is on the business opportunity. They want to know that you’ve got the product, the business plan and equally if not more importantly, the team to get them to the finish line: which means that all-important exit. Investors have LPs they answer to, and those LPs expect an ROI, which the fund needs to make the LPs happy and willing to invest again when it’s time to raise the next fund.

And the circle goes unbroken.

As someone who reviews and/or creates/refines decks for founders, here are some of the cardinal mistakes we’ve seen:

1. Investors are not your customers. They might buy into your product, but they’re not necessarily customers for the product itself. Still, we can’t tell you how many times we’ve vetted decks that are more product sales/marketing leave-behinds than a business plan for your company.
2. Keep the product slide simple and put your focus on the business itself and how and why it will bring investors a sizeable exit.
3. The ‘Problem’ slide: “(Insert vertical you’re addressing here) is broken.” Do you know how many times investors/analysts have seen that line? It’s a rooky mistake and sets the stage for you being a rooky. Investors spend a few minutes assessing a deck – if you’re lucky – and you’ve just wasted major important seconds. Be specific about what that major problem you’re addressing is and on the next slide, your solution for addressing it.

Which brings us to one of the points Ackerman addressed: is your startup a painkiller or is it a vitamin? Holistic issues aside, as we are a big believer in vitamins, from an investor’s perspective, is your startup addressing a huge pain point that will resonate with a large audience? Investors don’t invest in vitamins: they invest in painkillers, which from an investor’s perspective means a need-to-have rather than a nice-to-have.

Ackerman broke down to how investors view the problem:

1. What’s the intensity of the pain?
2. What’s the prevalence: is it just you or are a lot of people experiencing this pain point?
3. Frequency: does this pain point happen every day? Every week? Every month? Or is it a once in a lifetime thing? Investors love founders who address real problems. And have a pathway to recurring revenue – and true need-to-haves rather than nice-to-haves, of course.

Speaking of need-to-haves, remember that no matter how potent that pain killer you’ve devised is, investors are betting as much on the team as they are on the product, or as Ackerman put it – “Do you bet on the jockey or the horse? I used to really be into horse racing. I’ve never seen a jockey win a race without a horse and I’ve never seen a horse win without the jockey. It’s gotta be both.”

Note to self: “Your startup is a chain, not a rope,” Ackerman pointed out. “When investors are evaluating your company, they’re looking at a chain: they’re looking for broken links. If any of the links look like they’re unfixable, the investors will pass rather than waste any more of their time.” Remember: they do have hundreds of more decks coming their way, so if you have weak or missing links, time to address them now, before the investors return.

To refresh your member, according to Guy Kawasaki’s pitch deck template, there’s a 10/20/30 rule:

Ten slides, 20 minutes, 30-point type:

1. Problem
2. Your solution
3. Business model
4. Underlying magic/technology
5. Marketing and sales/Go-to-market strategy
6. Competition
7. Team
8. Projections and milestones
9. Status and timeline
10. Summary and call to action

Close, but no cigar, and not necessarily in that order. If you’ve got a superpower, it needs to be front and center, not buried on a later slide that the investor may never get to.

You also need to include the ask: how much are you raising and for what? Most founders include the use of funds here. According to Ackerman, investors want to know what that funding is going to buy them. How is it going to bring the company closer to profitability and how much longer will that take? Ideally, the funding will last you 18 months and will get you to (provide info here). You don’t want to raise too little – investors want you to focus on building the company, not constantly chasing money. And don’t raise too much, either: the last thing anyone wants is a down round as a follow-on.

And do remember to put some time aside to enjoy the summer and all that it brings. Founders need downtime, too, so that they can come back to the issues/problems with a fresh perspective – and renewed energy.

Many investors are off at their pricey Hamptons retreats where ingredients for dinner purchased from one of the gourmet food shops might set you back five figures, according to The New York Times.  For more parsimonious founders, there’s always glamping, camping, the Jersey shore or Brooklyn or Long Island beaches. As always, keep it simple and don’t make excuses. Truth be told, even if you’re bootstrapping, anyone can make time for at least a Ramen holiday. Onward and forward.