The 9 Ps of Pitching for Money – Part 1: Fuel for Flight

Cash is your fuel. Without it, your business doesn’t taxi, take off, or fly—it just stalls. You can survive a bunch of other things: bad hires, lost deals, wrong turns. But if you run out of cash, it’s game over. Just like a pilot always makes sure there’s extra fuel in the tank for diversions, delays, and emergencies, an entrepreneur needs to keep a healthy cash buffer. It’s what gives your business runway—literally and figuratively.

In the early days, your business will likely be spending more than it's bringing in. This is completely normal—but it also means you might need to raise money to get from idea to breakeven and beyond. That’s where funding rounds come in: from founders investing their own money, to friends and family (pre-seed), to angel investors and early-stage VCs (seed), and eventually to the big leagues—Series A, B, C, and so on.

One big tip? Hold off on raising money as long as you can. The further along you are—prototype built, early customers on board—the better your valuation. Here’s a rough scale:

• Just an idea: X valuation

• Working prototype: 2X

• Paying customers + traction: 4X

If X is £500K, taking in £200K early could cost you nearly half your company. Wait until you've built some momentum, and that same £200K could only cost you 20% or less.

Founders Round

This is you putting your own skin in the game. You fund your MVP, do your research, start validating the market. If you can bootstrap all the way to breakeven—amazing. You’re in control and owe no one.

Pre-Seed Round

If you need more than you have, this is where friends and family might come in. Be clear: this is risk money only. It should never be someone’s rent or school fees.

A smart move here is to structure this as a loan—no interest, no fixed payback date—rather than issuing equity. Don’t clutter up your cap table with tiny shareholdings this early. At this stage, most businesses haven’t set up their legal structures properly (drag-along, tag-along, etc.), and a messy share table can create real problems later.

This round is sometimes jokingly called the FFF round: friends, family, and fools. Why? Because the money is often given based on love and belief in you, not the business data.

Seed Round

You’ve got a working prototype, maybe some early adopters, and a story starting to form. Time to pitch angels. But before you walk into that meeting, you need to master the 9 Ps. These are the things investors are really evaluating when they hear your pitch.