Raise Funds For Your Startup With The Perfect Pitch (Special Guest Sergio Yankovenko)

Securing startup funding with insights from Sergio Yankovenko, a seasoned pitch deck consultant who has helped startups raise over $560 million.

What's Covered:

• The art of transforming complex startup ideas into compelling investor presentations.
• The role of storytelling in capturing investor interest.
• Data-driven content strategies that make your pitch stand out.
• Design elements that enhance the effectiveness of your pitch deck.

Tune in to discover how to craft the perfect pitch and elevate your startup's funding prospects!

Sergio Yankovenko is a seasoned pitch deck consultant with over 8 years of experience, helping startups raise more than $560 million in funding. With a portfolio of over 400 projects, he excels in transforming complex startup ideas into compelling, investor-ready presentations.

Sergio blends storytelling, data-driven content, and custom design to ensure startups stand out in the competitive funding landscape.

🤝 Connect with Sergio on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergio-y/

Learn more about Sergio at https://calendly.com/sergio_yankovenko/15min

🌟Join the WAITLIST for The Faithful Founders Collective at https://reinventing-perspectives.kit.com/231f666d82

💛 Thank you for listening in! 😀

P.S. Don’t forget to leave a review! Much appreciated.

Transcript

Sergio Yankovenko: [00:00:00] A lot of people come to me and they say I'm trying to raise funding.

For my idea for my business. And I say, you know what? I'm not the right person for you to ask, but I will find the right person. And I think I have. 

It's time to reinvent.

Priscilla Shumba: Welcome to the Lessons of Entrepreneurship, the Journey of Reinvention. Today, I have a special guest , it's incredibly late where he is, but he's here to give you some value. His name is Sergio yankovenko. Sergio is a seasoned pitch deck consultant with over eight years experience.

He has a portfolio of over 400 projects. He has helped startups raise more than million dollars. 560 million in funding. Sergio, please introduce yourself, let them know who you are and what's your mission. 

Sergio Yankovenko: Yeah. Thank you for inviting me to this podcast. My name is [00:01:00] Sergio and I am the series pitch deck consultant and creator I have 400 project in my portfolio and about nine years experience in this field. Probably we can connect and, discuss if you have some.

Questions,

Priscilla Shumba: I have an idea, but I also don't know what the process is for raising funds. You talked about from idea to Series A, maybe you can give us a general overview of what the process funding is about. 

Sergio Yankovenko: Generally series A it's more about growing. If you already have the company and, for example, you already have clients and your startup is growing and you need some funding to make it bigger, to expand your coverage probably, so basically we have structure like an idea stage. Pre-seed, seed, then [00:02:00] round A, B, C, and continue. So this depends and this round's quite different and have quite different requests to founder, to startups, to have them. 

Priscilla Shumba: There's so many platforms now where I think there's a lot of crowdfunding and that kind of thing . And, usually if you're not in that world, you don't understand how to get into that. Perhaps if you can give us a story or just an idea before we jump right in. 

Sergio Yankovenko: The crowdfunding platform, it's, Mostly for startups and idea stage. If you wanted to build some product or maybe manufacture something and you have already the prototype, the crowdfunding platform offer you to, just get a small investment from many people and to , exchange to some [00:03:00] rewards.

For example you, can have some special price for your first investor. For example, you have an idea to create I don't know perfect bag. And you need money to manufacture, you create some, first sample, at your garage,, you make some pictures, how it will be look like, and so on, but you need money to make, manufacture because it's so expensive, for example, you need hundred or thousand dollars, 1000 items and you go to crowdfunding platforms and then, okay I will sell this bag.

For , 200, but just for my early investment it will be hundred and half, and mostly crowdfunding platform, it's quite easy, but you need attention. So you, need to publish it. To the social media to any other platform to take attention to your product because it's really crowded market and so many projects not [00:04:00] find , their investor you need to use some advertisement services and so on.

This is quite complicated thing, but you able to easy. Come into it simply register on platform and do the step by step guide. This depends on the platform. 

Priscilla Shumba: Sounds like with the crowdfunding, because the barrier to entering that is so low, anyone can just go on there and put whatever they're wanting to raise funds for, you really have to market yourself to be able to stand out in that. Crowdfunding space, right?

Sergio Yankovenko: Yeah. You need to market. You need to have, Probably your social media like Instagram and other platforms. To have some investment from crowdfunded platform, you need to have some audience already. Many startups, as I know, using some advertisement

so they create a campaign and invest to advert, to make attention to their potential [00:05:00] product. 

Priscilla Shumba: Sergio, share with us how to craft that perfect pitch for an investor. I'm interested to know one story of when it went awesomely right and one of when it went awesomely wrong.

Sergio Yankovenko: Probably one story. What was a perfect pitch deck. At the beginning of my career in this area. One founder, he went to the conference we created the pitch deck during his flight. To New York. And from my time, we did that almost all night.

So we're working like online just like with you, okay, we need to add, here, and here, let's make changes here. And his product was quite good. They raised about ten millions. and the first round. Just have only idea. This is, really good succeed. 

Priscilla Shumba: What makes the difference with getting the funding and not getting the funding?

Sergio Yankovenko: Okay. Probably the structure [00:06:00] is quite standard. You can just find it. So you need to show your problem, solution, your market, your product and some, your financials if you have them. Mostly important you on the beginning of your way, you need to show your team you need to prove to potential investors what, the people who's stand behind of your startup not only people on the street, but it's, great professional of each area.

actually, mostly important, you need to know, how much you want it to rise. I heard from many entrepreneurs , okay, I didn't know how much I needed, but I will discuss with investor. , investor not know how much money you need and if you, haven't this sum in your mind it seems like .

You underprepared, , you haven't any business plan and you don't know how much, money you need , [00:07:00] to make your project happen. This is probably biggest mistake from startup founders. 

Priscilla Shumba: Sometimes people say, Oh, they invest in the person more than in the idea. You hear that a lot and how much of that is actually, true what are they looking for in the person who's pitching? 

Sergio Yankovenko: Okay this mostly about first stages, like an idea stage, they looking for this project to really happen you need to have this fire in your eye about your project. This also just funny. Some startup founders came to investor , okay, I have this, idea, but I still at regular job, I will do my project at the evening on the garage and I need, money for it.

The investor, okay, but this is not a business. This is just your hobby. And why I should [00:08:00] give money, to your hobby. investor looking for people who have this fire and able to do this project 24 by seven and make this project really happen.

And probably experience. You need to prove investors you really know, what you're trying to build. So you need to show your experience in this area. For example, if you create some med tech project, just for example, you need to prove investor. I have experience being a doctor 10 years or something like that, , you should be noticed.

You no need to be like regular person or if , you can be good salesman. You should have in your team. Some good medical professionals. And, investing in person, it's probably at stage before you haven't any MVP and haven't any client yet. So you need to prove the investor you not just burn their [00:09:00] money. 

Priscilla Shumba: You touched on so many things , just because you've got a great idea that It's warranting of investment. And I'm so happy to have you here 

tell us how you got into that specific line of business. It's not a common thing 

Sergio Yankovenko: Start my, career like the regular designer but view for some, business mind , actually my first client who I created some business card to him and he also, okay, can you help me , with PitchDeck, just help me create, design it, agree, , and I just take a look at his content and understand that, this is not so logical.

You need to add this stuff, and we start working on it and they have first the investment and probably it was my insight huh. My ideas are actually working and I start to dive into this niche [00:10:00] just , find some courses, find some education in the field and then just working with clients and, mostly educated person because, Right now, so many information in different sources about all these parts you need to put everything together plus experience and it was already nine years ago.

Many, projects was really successful. I have proven track records. So my , ideas actually work. 

Priscilla Shumba: With the first one, you were looking at their content. So I'm assuming that you should have something. In terms of content out there. And what is it that you're looking for where you said there were things missing, there was no logic in it 

Sergio Yankovenko: firstly, when I start working with the client I create some interview. I asked the question about the project and for example, you can have great idea, [00:11:00] but you don't know which problem you're trying to solve. You can have the, problem and idea, but you not to do any market research.

And you don't know, you have competitor in this area. Maybe your neighbor, create just the same, but , much cheaper. If you underprepared, I see what you already have and help you. In this maybe fill in the gap, I try to ask if you know some parts, some details, because mostly, startup founders have, this kind of messy in, his mind and I try to bring it to line just, okay, this part and, then I see, okay, we have everything, but we haven't some remarkable thing, what highlight us from the competitor.

We can do some, maybe think. Otherwise, [00:12:00] make some pivot, change our technology to maybe different area and so on. This is some kind of a continuous process. 

Priscilla Shumba: I'm thinking that if it's idea stage, there's a lot of work to be done to really bring all those, parts together so that you can be able to create that perfect pitch.

Now we've talked about the preparation of it. Now talking about the actual pitch you have the, deck in hand. What does the deck look like? 

Sergio Yankovenko: Probably this is standard presentation. with, 10, 15 slides in it. It's mostly not so long, and, you have some script and , you just message the investors and, make the call. This is actually not my area because I'm not, response to connect with actual investors.

So I can bring to, okay, you can find investor in these [00:13:00] contacts, but I , not make the actual investment happened. And I no schedule call with investors. So this should do the CEO.

Priscilla Shumba: You help them prepare the pitch. You help them to have. Something that is not messy. You've, thought about everything from the market research to what's unique to what other people doing out there to really, how can this be logical for you, the CEO, the founder to go in and look for the investor and to see, if you can be able to get that funding, I'm interested to know that from the startups that you have helped raise a lot of money, some tips for the listener. 

Sergio Yankovenko: probably need to find this balance be on the cloud and stay grounded. You can bring to investors some beautiful picture of your project, but you need , that data should be maximum proofed as possible. Because right [00:14:00] now in AI era many startup founders just go to open AI, for example, go to chat GPT and okay bring me some market research.

And actually AI can create it, but this without any proofs. I speak with some investors and they, okay. person came to me and I will , have , this project in billion market, investor asked, okay where do you take this data? And here is a stop point because the CEO can't answer where he's take this data and how, he do his research.

And this numbers. The fake to potential investor. 

Priscilla Shumba: Very interesting because some of these tools that we use to speed up the process. A lot of it has got to do in that preparation stage is where the perfect pitch is going to come from.

We say have a lot of [00:15:00] data, but what does have a lot of data look like? If you can be more specific 

Sergio Yankovenko: you need to have a lot of data about your project but in actual pitch, it shouldn't be more than a couple of slides with this data. All this data you can put in your business plan. And if investor interesting to work with you, can ask, okay I have your pitch. This is quite interesting, but can you show me your business plan?

And it would besome hundred d pages word file with all detailed explanation where you take money from and where you find clients you need to be prepared to answer potential question what investor can ask. For example, in my process, after clients working with me I, give some prepared about 300 potential question with terms [00:16:00] what investor can ask to you on the actual meeting and because, potential investor they interesting in just two things about risk and returns.

How much they need to invest in your project and how much they can get back and how high their risk. To lose their , investment. And in this area, you need to be maximum prepared what happened if your project, not find the client. What you do in this case how you handle, for example, if you can't find, correct professional inside of your team, how you will find some, employees , to your startup, and all these question, what you need to be maximum prepared.

Priscilla Shumba: vEry interesting. I almost feel as if the best time to look for investment is after you've [00:17:00]established some kind of, Core product, at least, or minimum viable product. What Has been your experience, Sergio, just in terms of the success rate of you have an idea or maybe you have a core product or just to increase the probability that you get that funding? 

Sergio Yankovenko: This depends, how much you want to, raise in your first, for example, an idea, stage, because I met some founders who just have this unrealistic expectation. They just, okay. Have nothing yet, I have only idea, but I want 2 million, 5 million, and I believe I find investor who give me that money, but no.

For example, if you haven't any MVP right now, you can expect, for example this type of angel investor who invest about 10, 20 K [00:18:00] up to a hundred K maximum. What you can expect to build MVP and find the couple first client. So this type of person, they invest in a lot of different startups just expecting , one of them happen.

So in this case, the investment rate pretty high if you good As I said at the beginning, you need to clearly understand how much you wanted to raise and, which condition you two offer to investor, because investor, it's mostly finance people. So for example, if you, okay, I , I want, 2000.

To investment and I give you only 10 percent of my company. The investor, can calculate if you give me only 10%. 10 and you think your project cost this one. why do you think your projects so, costly right now? You haven't anything yet. And you need [00:19:00] to explain the investor why you have some, difference from your potential competitors, like direct or indirect, for example, because our ideas right now already created, we can only combine different pieces, in different way. 

Priscilla Shumba: sUch an interesting world. Great to have someone like you give people insight into how to do these things. Interested to know, Sergio, at what point should someone approach you? What are you expecting to see when you want to work with someone? 

Sergio Yankovenko: Mostly, , we should have the call and I ask what stage I can take the person with idea and move with him step by step. Some clients, already have, for example, designer in the team. Need to help only with the content part. Some person already have the ready pitch deck, but need, help with [00:20:00] script.

Or Maybe some person just wanted to ask the feedback, for example, you already have the pitch deck, you already have everything, we can, for example, make a call and I take a look like from investor, side where is the problem in your pitch, you can be, less confidence, for example you can don't know some answers to some questions and so on.

So this quite long process, but, I start working with clients at any stages. So I'm not expecting some. specific, for example, I working with, if you already have a MVP or if you already have the clients and so on. So I start working with clients at any stages. You can have only idea and I can work with you through all this process, what you need to find out, what you need to know, and I can [00:21:00] help you make your investment happen.

Priscilla Shumba: Thank you so much, Sergio. It's been great , hearing how this whole process works. The investor's interested in the risk and in the return. Maybe if you can throw out two questions that are common.

That will get someone's mind turning if they're thinking of this process. 

Sergio Yankovenko: One question, it's why, the market needs your product? So you need to answer this question and probably second, it will be how, you make it happen. 

You should have solid plan on it. 

Priscilla Shumba: Thank you. I, like that a lot. Check in the description link. I'll put his Calendly where you can book a 15 minute meeting with him.

But if they'd like to just follow sort of your work and. Is there somewhere where they can do that? 

Sergio Yankovenko: I pretty active at LinkedIn accounts, so you can just find by my name. And I post, content about page decks almost daily. So you [00:22:00] can, go to my page and to read and connect with me. There, you can find some samples of my work and many other stuff what can help you be maximum prepared as you can. 

Priscilla Shumba: Thank you so much. Now, it wouldn't be fair to let you go before I ask you this. The story behind the most successful, pitch that raised the most money. If you can, , 

Sergio Yankovenko: Mostly successful project, what that works so far it was some marketplace for handyman's for landlords. You can just go to the special app. Order some help with anything inside of your building and they built this application. After we work on the pitch deck, they raised about quarter billion in the first round.

So it's so far mostly successful project. You can find it in my portfolio. And to read [00:23:00] more or you can ask me directly. 

Priscilla Shumba: that's amazing. Now if you've done a pitch and it hasn't been successful, what's the talk like? What's the next thing? . 

Sergio Yankovenko: You make the pitch and if your first pitch wasn't successful, you can expect the feedback from the potential investors. You can ask something. Okay. You're not investing in my project, but can you help me? Okay. And mostly investors, some open minded person they tell you okay, I have lack of market research you need to expand your team or what doubts they have about your project and you need to try another one before you actually find your guy, because it's , I can compare, like dating maybe.

So you need to try many, times. So where you find your person, 

Priscilla Shumba: Thank you for [00:24:00] that. It's so important to be mentally prepared for what it's really going to take for you to raise the funds, 

Sergio Yankovenko: You need to be prepared. If you have your perfect pitch, it wouldn't be like okay, I go to First Investor and, they, just right away. Give me as much money as I need. They also want to find the best deal they, can find potential investor get at his email about, 20 to 50 different pitch deck per month.

You can expect what, some offer can be better, some offer can be worse from the investor side, and you need to find the right investor in, right area. For example, you can just go to Crunchbase, for example, and find okay, I see this investor, Some of them invest only in the method, [00:25:00] someone investing only in crypto project.

Someone invest in different, areas. So you can take a look their portfolio and understand how much they good to actual your project. And this is probably no one can give you 100 percent guarantee this investor actually gives you money. This is quite complicated, like the compare with some kind of dating, market , If you working with some professional who prepared you to, maybe dating agency, they can, guarantee what this date can be like, one time offer. And they just make

many of them happen and doing continuously, you can find your person. 

Priscilla Shumba: Are you a crypto person or Have you worked with crypto startups? 

Sergio Yankovenko: I'm not really a crypto person, but yes, I'm working with some crypto projects. It's not so [00:26:00] many, because I'm really picky about the crypto projects, because many of them look like regular scam. I'm, in my personal opinion. Personal opinion. I'm not working with any scammers or when I see, the project look like fully fake I just not working with them.

In my portfolio about. Five or seven crypto project. This is not so much. Mostly my, project is some kind of application, some kind of SaaS product and, probably mostly in this area, but yeah, I work in your some crypto .

Priscilla Shumba: That's incredible. I could talk to you forever, Sergio, but it'll be morning on your end and you need to rest. I appreciate your coming on the podcast and really giving the audience this information, please. This is what it is to pitch your idea. If you need help, you need someone who has been through it, who can spot where [00:27:00] you need help.

Sergio, thank you so much. Please follow him, learn more about it and connect with him to meet with him. Thank you so much, Sergio. 

Sergio Yankovenko: Thank you to having me.