[Fundraising for Startups] Lesson 11: You need to understand the person across the table from you.

Today, I want you to put yourself in the shoes of an investor. (Seriously, just follow me on this for a minute.)

You've got $50,000 to invest in a company -- and you have to make a decision today. If you pick the right company, you'll make $500,000. If you pick the wrong company, you lose your $50,000.

Take that in for a minute.

How does that make you feel? (Remember, you're the investor right now.)

How do you even make that decision?

What would you do?

What things would you want to see?

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Fundraising isn't about ideas or luck. It's about the process.

It's the process of getting initial traction.

It's the process of learning which words to use.

It's the process of understanding how the person across the table from you -- the investor -- is thinking and feeling.

It's the process of crafting your story to better fit that person across the table from you.

That's why I showed you over 1,000 funded pitch decks. I want you to see the storylines and the design.

See, that's the thing most people miss: Design matters. Details matter. A LOT.

Pro tip #1: once you've created your draft pitch deck, it's time to get a designer to look at it.

Not another entrepeneur. Not your mom. Not your spouse.

You want someone that you don't know to try telling your story visually. In the worst case, it exposes the flaws in your story so you can improve. In the best case, you look even better. Use something like Fiverr or other online designed platforms to go recruit someone.

Seriously, investing a couple hundred dollars in a great designer a few years ago leveled up my own speaker decks and pitch decks big time.

Pro tip #2: learn how investors make (and lose) their money.

As you've already heard me say, no one invests in ideas in 2017 (and beyond). Investing is about backing small amounts of measurable traction and hoping that it keeps growing. The real problem is that our financial returns are not normally distributed.

In other words: we'll invest in 10 companies but only 1-2 might ever return any money to us.

Think about that for a second.

There you are, pitching an investor. You're talking about your widget. You're talking about your market. You're talking about your team.

In the end, it's the trajectory of your growth that matters. And I hope you'll always keep that in mind.

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So let's go back to the example at the beginning of this email.

Put your investor hat back on: if you were sitting there trying to make an investment decision, what things would you be looking for?

Hit reply on this email and let me know. I read every single response.

-P