Low investor interest can be discouraging, but it can be addressed. Here’s what you can do.

First, make sure you are talking to enough investors. If you have talked to only one or two, then it’s too early to make any judgment about general interest. Increase the funnel. Then test your pitch. 

Make sure that you are pitching to the right type of investor. If your solution is for e-commerce, don’t pitch B2B SaaS investors. Customise your pitch to people who fit your ideal investor profile. The check size and industry focus should be factors you account for.

If you’ve checked that you have enough investors and they do fit in your optimal investor profile, but the response isn’t there, then your pitch is at fault. Often, it’s how you’re communicating your message: a too-long, too-convoluted, or product-focused email without a focus on a bold vision for the future or your experience can easily fall flat.

Another potential issue could be the industry you're in. Market interest can be shortlived. Web3 and crypto have ups and downs. It’s harder than it used to be to pitch startups in those sectors when times are tough. Then again, the Metaverse hype has come and gone, and it’s hard to get investor interest right now.

You can experiment with this by using different positioning messages. There are lots of different ways to describe your product. If something doesn’t work as X, it could work as Y. A project pitched as an ‘art marketplace’ might not generate any interest among investors. But perhaps it would be under a different name – if it was positioned as something a bit more cool, relevant, or different. Experiment with how you describe your product and the way you frame it – and keep going until you find what works.

If you get initial interest but then people bounce and stop watching once they see your deck, the problem could well be your pitch deck. Pitch-deck analytics tools such as DocSend can tell you how long people are looking at each page and when they stop reading so that you can prioritise modifying your deck to better engage and retain interest.

If you are having lots of meetings with investors but no one seems interested in investing post-meeting, ask for direct feedback. Designate time to sit with potential investors and ask them after they’ve walked away what they thought. Why or why not was it a ‘yes’ or ‘no’? This should provide valuable insight as to what needs to be changed – either how you are positioning yourself in front of investors, whether they connect with your story, or even how solid your underlying business strategy is.