When I was on the founder’s office side, we paid ₹35,000 for a sub-par investor pitch deck.
Fast forward to today — I’m now on the investor side, funding frugal innovation in India - and I truly understand what makes a deck stand out. The goal of your deck isn’t to close the deal; it’s to make an investor curious enough to book that first meeting.
Here’s what you must have in your pitch deck - and what you should avoid.
Dedicate 1–2 slides to explain your problem statement clearly. The most effective way to do this is by telling a story through your Ideal Customer Persona (ICP) or by illustrating the current broken workflow.
Example:
If you’re solving for music education access in Tier II towns, paint the picture. Ravi aspired to learn music. But his only option was his school teacher, who had limited expertise. His talent went untapped.
“Our brains are wired to respond to stories… Even a crappy game… sells a million copies because it tells a story. So you should try to tell one, too.” - Peter Thiel, Co-founder of PayPal
Make it real. Make it relatable.
Show how you’re solving the problem — in clear, simple language.
Avoid jargon like “full-stack”, “AI-driven”, or “fully integrated” unless they are truly critical to your solution.
Use images, short videos, or screenshots. Make your solution so obvious that even someone outside your industry can understand it.
This is where you build credibility.
Show where you are in your journey:
Stage of your product or service
Pilot runs or partnerships
Any relevant IPs
Traction and revenue numbers
Customer testimonials
I once ignored a pitch because the problem felt too niche — until I saw the revenue numbers. Sales don’t lie.
“Your goal is not to give facts, but to fascinate your investor.” — Vinod Khosla
Great companies aren’t just built on great ideas. They are built on exceptional execution.
Use this section to show why you and your team have the right to win. Go beyond degrees and past experience — highlight relevant expertise, grit, and why your team understands this problem better than anyone else.
Clearly state how much you’re raising (and what you’ve raised in the past, if relevant).
But here’s the trick — don’t break it down into detailed percentages like “15% for salaries” or “30% for office expansion.”
Instead, talk in terms of milestones:
Launching a new product line
Adding new features
Expanding into new geographies
Scaling up user acquisition
Investors want to know what their capital will achieve, not just where it will sit.
There are common mistakes I see every week. Avoid these traps:
Over-reliance on AI-generated text — we’re investing in you, not ChatGPT.
Overly complex design — simplicity wins. Stick to clean templates and easy-to-read fonts (black and white works beautifully).
TAM, SAM, SOM overload — don’t spend a whole slide justifying these numbers. Mention them briefly, but don’t make them the centerpiece.
Preferably, 10 slides or less. Go up to 15 only if you’re adding value with self-explanatory media like screenshots or demo clips.
The objective of the deck is simple:
Get the investor to read, understand the crux, and want to reach out to you.
Problem (tell a story)
Solution (keep it clear and visual)
Progress (traction, users, revenue)
Team (why you win execution-wise)
Ask + Milestones (what you'll achieve with money)
Don’ts (no fluff, no jargon, just simplicity)
Signing a term sheet is a big milestone for any startup. But once that happens, the next step is a detailed check by third-party auditors. This covers legal, financial, and secretarial aspects of the company.
The goal is simple. Investors want to be sure everything is in order before wiring funds. Founders want a clean report to avoid future problems. Auditors want to deliver reliable results. Yet the process often takes much longer than expected.
Here’s why it slows down, how it affects everyone involved, and how AI can make it smoother.
AI cannot replace legal, financial, or secretarial experts. But it can take over the repetitive and data-heavy parts, helping all three groups.
For Founders
AI can suggest what files to upload, flag missing ones, and organize them neatly in a data room
It can check for obvious mismatches, like differences between the cap table and MCA filings
It can create summaries of long contracts or agreements so founders don’t have to prepare notes manually
For Investors
AI can prepare quick red flag reports highlighting key risks like missed filings or mismatched accounts
It can make comparisons across deals, showing common issues in portfolio companies
It allows investors to ask questions like “Which statutory filings are pending” and get quick answers without waiting for a final report
For Auditors
AI can pull structured data directly from GST filings, MCA records, payroll slips, or bank statements, saving hours of manual work
It can automatically check numbers across statements and flag only the mismatches
It can highlight unusual clauses or missing signatures in contracts or resolutions
It can provide consistent checklists so the process is uniform across clients
Post term sheet diligence is necessary. It protects both investors and founders and builds trust before funds are transferred. But the way it is done today often slows everyone down.
AI can speed things up by handling the routine work. This lets founders, investors, and auditors focus on what matters most: judgment and decision making. The result is faster closures and fewer headaches for everyone.
When we think of entrepreneurs, we picture bold risk-takers, visionaries who turn ideas into billion-dollar companies. What we rarely talk about, though, are the insecurities, sacrifices, and silent battles that define their journey just as much as funding rounds or IPOs.
Behind every glossy headline is a story of self-doubt, sleepless nights and bold decisions that push the boundaries between professional and personal life.
A reddit rant post led us to reflect on some of the difficult decisions that our founders had to take along their journey.
At our recently hosted MV Day 2025, Mr. Sachin Gupta, Founder & CEO, IKS Health shared emotional challenges and insecurities faced growing IKS health from O to a billion dollar company:
Ironically, the very insecurities that haunted this entrepreneur became their source of resilience. Doubt turned into discipline. Fear became fuel. Vulnerability led to stronger decision-making. This redefines how we see weakness in business: sometimes, it’s exactly what shapes long-term success.
So, the next time you see a headline about a billion-dollar valuation, remember: behind it may be a founder who once mortgaged their mother’s house, skipped their own salary or questioned daily if they belonged in the room.
Behind every unicorn, there’s a founder who has faced lonely nights, gut-wrenching decisions, and risks that would make most people walk away. Success isn’t just about strategy or capital it’s about:
Managing self-doubt.
Balancing investor faith with independence.
Making painful sacrifices when survival demands it.
Turning insecurity into fuel for discipline and resilience.
If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or already building, know this feeling like an imposter, making uncomfortable sacrifices or carrying emotional scars doesn’t make you less of a founder. It makes you exactly what you need to be: resilient, resourceful, and real. Write to us at pitch@malpaniventures.com if you're building and raising
Most startup stories begin with a twenty-something founder leaving college with nothing but a big idea and a small bank account. This one doesn’t.
This founder was at the top of his corporate game. Decades of experience, a secure paycheck, an enviable title.
And then… he walked away.
No VC money. No safety net beyond his own savings. The stakes? Everything he had spent a lifetime building.
That leap became BriskPe - a fintech rocket helping India’s MSME exporters move money across borders faster, cheaper, and with more transparency than ever before.
BRISKPE was founded in early 2023 by industry veterans—Sanjay Tripathy (30+ years with HDFC Life, Pepsi, Reliance), Nilesh Pathak (25+ years in global payments tech), and Indunath Chaudhary (15+ years in banking, payments, supply chain) .
Notably, they funded the venture themselves initially, aiming for profitability from day one rather than chasing growth via unchecked burns
Rapid Execution, Lean by Design
The idea was conceived around September 2022, the company came together in October, and by February–March 2023 they were incorporated and in beta launch. That’s a tight launch timeline - built lean, launched fast.
BriskPe addresses pain points common to MSMEs - costly cross-border fees, FX volatility, delayed payments, and lack of clarity
Their value props:
Milestones That Matter
The Bold Play
Insights for VC-Worthy Founder Stories
As an investment firm, here’s we look to spotlight in founders:
Conclusion:
If you’re a founder reading this, ask yourself - would you risk everything you’ve built at the very height of your career for one idea?
Because that’s the kind of conviction that gets our attention as an early stage capital firm.
-
At MV Day 2025, we hosted a fireside chat between Sachin Gupta (Founder & CEO, IKS Health) and Dr. Aniruddha Malpani, founder of Malpani Ventures, an early-stage investment firm known for backing founders with patient, long-term capital.
It was an honest conversation about what it really takes to build a company that lasts — especially in a complex, regulated market like U.S. healthcare.
We’re sharing the full video below, but here are some takeaways that stood out.
IKS didn’t just offer a service — they built their model around what their customers needed: better outcomes, not just more manpower. This meant tying their success to things like revenue cycle efficiency and physician productivity, not just time spent.
That simple shift made IKS harder to replace and more valuable over time.
To build trust in the U.S., IKS relied on a strong advisory board. Having experts who understood the market gave them credibility early on — and helped avoid missteps that many Indian startups make when expanding globally.
Sachin spoke about mentors who helped him stay grounded, make tough decisions, and think long-term. Founders often underestimate how useful it is to have someone to learn from, especially when things get hard.
Choosing to be ethical — especially in messy systems — slows you down. But IKS chose that path. It may have cost them in the short run, but it built trust that paid off in the long run.
This Fireside session isn’t just about IKS. It’s about how companies can grow slowly, honestly, and still win. If you’re a founder building for the long term, this is worth watching.
Watch the full conversation here.