In this episode of How to Sell Your Vision, I interviewed Michael Krikheli, founder of 5Sigma—an insurance claims processing company using AI to automate workflows with tools like auto-adjusters and more.

I asked Michael about the role of AI in investor pitches, and his response was spot on:
"The goal of your pitch is to convince the investor that you’re solving a real problem—not that you’ve built amazing technology."

I wanted to highlight that part of our conversation because I see it time and time again: brilliant founders lose their audience by leading with “AI” instead of the problem they’re solving.

That’s why I also wrote this article on Medium: If you want investors to stop listening to your pitch, keep saying AI.

Michael nailed it—there’s always a technology (today it’s AI), but investors care most about the problem. The problem is the scalable part. The transformation it enables is the story.

Focus on the problem. Make it urgent. Make it crystal clear.
The rest will follow.

Founders, don’t miss this one.

In this session of How to Sell Your Vision, I sat down with Benjamin Narasin, founder and GP at Tenacity Ventures—and his insights are powerful.

He breaks down some of the biggest misconceptions founders still follow when fundraising. Here are just a few takeaways:

• A good deck shouldn’t say everything—it should spark curiosity and lead investors to you. You are the color of the company.

• A strong deck ends not when there’s nothing left to add, but when there’s nothing left to remove.

• If someone offers you an investor intro, don’t send the deck in advance.

• The deck you send and the deck you present should not be the same. Your delivery deck should use visuals to empower your pitch—not text to tell the story.

This episode is packed with sharp insights you’ll want to take in. Give it a listen.

In my work, I see a lot of founders who, for some reason, are still fixated on the old ways of pitching—thinking they must present a trillion‑dollar TAM and lofty projections because that’s what investors want.

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: if you need an explosive TAM and out‑of‑this‑world projections to hook investors, your story and solution are probably off the mark.

But not to be fixed on my own pitching philosophy, I decided to address this topic of valuations and projections in one of my podcast sessions.

I was truly humbled to have Ron Levin, Managing Partner at Alumni Ventures, as a guest on my podcast, How to Sell Your Vision, and to hear his thoughts on today’s pitching process.

Alumni Ventures is one of the most active VCs in the U.S., with over 30 unicorns in its portfolio, over 150 exits, 14 IPOs, and more than 140 acquisitions.

Among the many powerful insights he shared, Ron spoke about how you position your startups—and it goes back to my earlier point. He said, “Don’t sell me the unicorn promise. On the contrary, I want to see that you’re mature enough to know the steps necessary to achieve your goals. Being ambitious is great, but we need to be realistic as well.”

He added, “It applies to projections, too. If a founder presents an ARR of $500,000 in Year One and $5M in Year Two, it tells me one of two things: they clearly don't realise the work it takes to make this leap, or they don’t need my money.”

I truly recommend that all early‑stage founders reading this post listen to this eye‑opening episode

If there's one thing I love about hosting my podcast, How to Sell Your Vision, it's when my guests add a fresh perspective to conventional ideas around investor pitching.

That's exactly what happened during my conversation with Mike James Ross.

I’ve worked with tons of VCs and investors, and I always hear the same thing, they invest in founders first. They’re looking for grit, passion, and commitment. But, what actually makes a founder demonstrate these qualities?

Mike nailed it: “Investors are looking for intent. When there’s true intention, everything else follows. Intent creates passion, resiliency, and grit.”

It’s not just about having great technology, or a cool idea. It’s about being intentional with the problem you’re solving.

Investors don’t just want to know what you do, but why it matters to you.

Intent is the secret sauce to authenticity.

Mike dropped so many more powerful insights in this episode

Here’s why it stood out:

In this episode of How to Sell Your Vision, I sat down with one of the most fascinating humans I’ve ever had the chance to meet—Dan Tyre.

As employee #6 at HubSpot, the mastermind behind the iconic HubSpot for Startups program, and an investor who has helped multiple companies scale past $1B in revenue, I knew I was in for some powerful insights on pitching.

And man, was I right.

I asked Dan: If you had to share one piece of advice with a founder preparing to pitch, what would it be?

"Get the investors to talk," he said.

Your mission isn’t to deliver a pitch in twenty minutes or less—it’s to get your audience engaged.
Start by asking a question. Here’s why:

✅ It gets people on video calls to put down their phones.
✅ It helps you relate your story to their personal experiences.
✅ It creates an engaging, two-way conversation.

Tune in to an amazing session.

🚀 Your Pitch Isn’t About AI. It’s About Value.

In this episode of How to Sell Your Vision, I sat down with Ori Sagie—a founder with multiple exits and currently the Owner and Managing Partner at Sagie Ventures.

So many powerful insights came from our discussion, but one, in particular, stood out:

👉 Your pitch isn’t about AI. AI is an enabler.

Don’t focus your pitch on how great AI is. Instead, make it simple, clear, and focused. AI is not the value you’re generating—the impact and transformation it enables is. Investors need to visualize the value, not just the technology behind it.

I couldn’t agree more with Ori. This aligns perfectly with an article I published on Medium: "AI Founders — How to Raise Money When All You Have Is an Idea." In it, I urge founders to make AI secondary in their pitch.

As Ori said, we’re not undermining the technology—but technology alone is never the value. The process transformation it drives is.

#startups #AI #pitching #venturecapital #founders #entrepreneurship

In this episode of How to Sell Your Vision, I had the pleasure of hosting Angelos, the founder and CEO of Infrared City, a fascinating company providing environmental simulations that illustrate how newly designed structures can impact the environment.

Its applications are broad and critically important, ranging from city planning to bridges and more.

One of the key insights Angelos shared was the importance of knowing exactly why you're asking for a specific funding round and how you plan to allocate those funds.

It’s a topic I’ve been hearing more and more about lately.

It seems straightforward, right? If you’re asking for money, you should know how you’re going to use it.

But I share Angelos’ sentiments: especially in early-stage startups, where assumptions often outweigh historical data, investors want to see that your projections are grounded in thorough research and a clear understanding of costs.

Providing a detailed plan for how you’ll use the funds is an excellent way to demonstrate to investors that you’ll treat their money with care.

If your reasoning isn’t solid, realistic, and well-grounded, investment simply won’t follow.

In this episode of How to Sell Your Vision, I interviewed Mark Fershteyn, Co-Founder and CEO of Recapped.io.

Mark shared an interesting anecdote about how he and his co-founder, both sons of first-generation immigrants, managed to secure investments from giants like Zoom—despite not having a rich network.

"The key is storytelling," he says, emphasizing the importance of building a narrative that provides small wins to hook investors into your vision.

Many founders aim for a big bang right away. However, the layers of a story need to build up and connect seamlessly, avoiding the impression of being a random collection of slides.

By creating small win points—small "yes" moments along the way—you build a compelling and cohesive story that captivates investors.

I loved what Mark said because storytelling is all about connection. And connections are formed, not won.

So, if you’re building your pitch, ask yourself: How do I create a story that resonates and builds trust step by step?