How Pitching Investors is Different Than Pitching Customers

Customers often know the problem well and care personally about a solution. Seibel recommends using their industry language, giving them room to describe the problem, and showing how the product could help them soon. This approach can guide sales calls, website copy, help center FAQs, and user interviews.

Investors may not understand the problem firsthand, so jargon and vague marketing claims can obscure what the product does. Seibel contrasts the broad claim that Google organizes the world's information with a plain explanation of how its search engine returns and ranks websites. A concrete description helps listeners picture the product without knowing the industry.

Seibel says the investor pitch usually belongs in the pitch deck, rather than on the customer-facing website. Investors want to know what the company does, its progress, its market size, how it will charge, what the team understands about the market, and whether the founders can build the product.

Customers tend to focus on functionality, onboarding, how pricing applies to them, and whether the product solves their specific problem. Screenshots and live demos can help. Investors usually focus more on market size, customer demand, and the business, though mass-market consumer products can make the two pitches more alike.

Seibel says founders often need practice to stop blending the two pitches. The customer is deciding whether the product solves a particular problem; the investor is evaluating whether it can become a large business. Most companies should prepare distinct pitches for those different questions.