Laurel Mintz knows within minutes when a founder is the real thing, and her body tells her first. “The backs of my knees start to sweat,” she said. It is her signal that she has found the right founder solving the right problem.
Mintz is an award-winning marketer, founder, and venture investor, and a corporate M&A attorney by background. On October 27, 2026, we hosted her class “Investor-ready: craft a pitch that builds investor confidence and drives funding conversations” at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, with Allison Berardi, program coordinator for high growth impact entrepreneurs at the Center, as host. Here is what she looks for, what loses her, and how to fix your pitch before your next investor meeting.
Key takeaways
After that gut reaction, Mintz looks for two more things.
Her firm scores every founder on two rubrics, one focused on marketing and one on traditional venture diligence, then averages the two. It invests in the top three to five companies, depending on how much capital it has to deploy.
Mintz rarely wants a founder to walk her through slides. “I want to know like are you a human first?” she said. The real test is simple: “Can you be human and engaging in a way that makes me want to lean in and ask questions?”
That matters because an investment is a long relationship, often 10 years or more. If you can connect with a skeptical investor, she reasons, you can connect with customers and other funds too.
Keep the story simple. “Don’t be clever for clever’s sake,” she said. There is a reason successful decks follow a familiar structure: you have seconds to hold someone’s attention, and a confusing layout loses them.
Mintz calls exaggerated claims “PRBS,” and percentages are the classic example. Going from one customer to two is 100% growth. It sounds impressive, but she will check your data room, the online folder where you share your detailed numbers, and see the truth.
Her fix is transparency. Say it plainly: we grew 100% because we went from one customer to two, and here is why those customers matter. Then show what realistic growth looks like for your industry. One new client a quarter can be strong for some businesses. A consumer brand needs thousands of customers.
If you are pre-revenue, show signals instead:
Set honest expectations about timing, too. On her agency side, she said, it usually takes 12 to 18 months to optimize marketing channels. She suggests three sets of projections: small (if you miss your targets), medium (if you hit them), and large (if you beat them). And skip claims like hitting $50 million in two years. “Come on,” she said.
For market size, she prefers a bottom-up estimate built from your actual customers and pricing over broad market totals anyone can look up. Then add the piece founders most often skip: a competitive analysis. “I need to know that you know exactly what you’re up against.”
Mintz likes founders with “some grit under their nails.” A past failure, and what you learned from it, can be one of your strongest points. Explain what did not work last time and how you are applying those lessons now.
Your team, or your board of advisors, needs deep expertise in your market, along with coverage in legal, finance, marketing, and communications. Be specific about what you actually did in past roles. Big brand logos on a slide are not enough. “People can buy logos all day long,” she said.
Most investors spend about two minutes on a deck, Mintz said. So build about 10 tight, visually strong slides, with links to appendices and your data room for anyone who wants to dig deeper.
Design matters more than many founders think. A messy deck makes her wonder what else you did not think through. With AI tools and freelance designers available, she sees no excuse. “If you’re not going to invest in your visual identity of your deck, why should I invest in your company?”
A few practical tips from the class:
Wasting an investor’s time is the fastest way to lose them. Before you reach out, confirm that your company fits the fund’s focus, or thesis. Sign up for the newsletters of the funds you plan to pitch, and watch their content to learn how each investor likes to communicate.
Mintz also pointed out that investors often fail to share their own timing. Her firm, for example, was in its own fundraising cycle and would not deploy new capital for at least six months. So ask early: are you currently investing? If not, how would you like me to stay in touch?
After the pitch:
Expect to share your numbers after you raise. Her firm wants quarterly reports and access to your books. “If you’re uncomfortable with sharing your numbers, it’s because something’s not going well,” she said. And if you do not need venture capital, she suggests looking at other options first, such as debt or a bank loan.
Pick the weakest piece of your pitch and fix it this week. For many founders, that means adding a competitive analysis, adding a team slide that explains why you are the right people, or running the deck through a design pass. Then start a monthly update to every investor you have spoken with.
And keep your confidence. “Don’t let anyone intimidate you because everybody is faking it at some point,” Mintz said.
Milestone Makers alumni have raised $1B+, and the program has served 400+ founders. It is a free, competitive 12-week cohort for high-growth founders working on fundraising, scaling, and hiring. You can also explore the Center’s free workbooks and toolkits, including resources on pitching.