How do I get an interested investor to commit?
Short answer
Find out what the investor wants and offer that, not what you need. Give them clear materials sized to the check, and room to do real diligence. Then ask directly for the next step. I treat a soft commit after a short pitch as interest only. Many sponsors talk to a securities attorney about their process.
Many stalled raises have the same cause. The investor said they were interested, and the founder heard a yes. Interest is a reason to keep going. Commitment comes later, after the investor has what they need and you have asked for the next step in plain words.
Offer what they want to buy
One guest on my podcast told a story I see all the time. Banks were shutting down lines of credit, so he needed debt. He built a debt syndication and thought the packaging was great. He raised $25,000. His projections made sense, but his investors wanted equity.
His lesson was simple. Don't give them what you need, give them what they want. Later he put a different opportunity in front of the same kind of investors. In a six week period they raised a little over $600,000. He added a caveat that I agree with. It helps to believe in the deal enough to invest in it yourself. You are not just doing deals to do deals.
This clip covers the debt raise that fell flat and the lesson he took from it.
Size your materials to the check
Once you know what they want, make it easy to say yes. In our Rainmaker series I explain that the amount you raise sets how much material you need. For a quarter of a million dollars in a few weeks, a one-page teaser and a video may be all you need. In my experience, a strong deal can sometimes raise $200,000 to $500,000 that way. For $2 million or $5 million, I would build the full stack. That means the pitch deck, video, website, one pager, one-liner and logo.
The more sophisticated the investor, the more detailed and also the more concise your materials should be. Make them visual. Someone should be able to glance at your one pager, understand what you do, and want a call. If they can't, you start flat-footed.
Here I walk through how pitch materials should scale with the amount you raise.
Summary and key takeaways from this video
Slow down for diligence, then ask
Pushing for a fast yes usually backfires. Marc, who leads our Deep Due Diligence Investors Club, has watched founders try it. They run a webinar about the deal and then ask for a soft commit at the end. His reaction is blunt.
"45 minutes is barely enough to say, "I'm willing to go to preliminary due diligence."."
The investors in that club often read every word of a PPM and ask tough questions. Marc says that deep diligence cannot remove risk, but it can reduce the unknowns. Serious investors expect this. If you welcome their questions and answer them with documents, you build the trust that a commitment depends on.
Marc explains what deep due diligence looks like from the investor's side of the table.
Summary and key takeaways from this video
After that, ask. Say what the next step is, how much you are raising, and the date the round closes. Vague asks get vague answers. Many sponsors also talk to a securities attorney about how they approach investors and describe an offering before they send anything.
From my books and event talks
Once you have asked, follow-up needs some discipline. My rule is to never follow up more than twice in the same week, unless I know the person really well and they asked me to, or they were really interested. Pestering can turn interest into silence. It also helps to be specialized. When an investor sees that you are dialed in for the type of investor they are, in a niche they already care about, you can be the exception they make time for, and that makes a commitment easier to give.
"never follow up more than twice in the same week, unless you know them really well, and they asked you to, or they were really interested."
"But I realized it works very well if people see you as highly specialized, then you can be the exception because you're specialized for them in a niche they're interested in, and you're dialed in for the type of investor they are."
On the record
- A debt syndication pitched to investors who wanted equity raised only $25,000.
- After switching to what the investors wanted, the same group raised a little over $600,000 in six weeks.
- Deep Due Diligence Investors members have put about $10 million of equity checks to work.
Sources
From Richard C. Wilson's Centimillionaire Strategies YouTube channel: Top 3 Insights on Structuring Investments - PODCAST - Family Offices & Family Office Club, Decamillionaire Fireside Chat: Due Diligence Tools, Strategies and Case Studies | Marc Halpern, Investment Pitch Decks & Capital Raising Materials | Ep 6. Quotes come from the video captions, lightly edited for readability. Figures are the speakers' own estimates and experience.
General education only. Not legal, tax or investment advice.
Talk to a securities attorney to explore options around investor outreach rules, offering documents and investor eligibility rules. Do not use AI to write your own legal agreements.
What to do next
- Ask the investor what they want to own and why, before you pitch your version.
- Match your materials to your raise size, starting with a strong one pager and a short video.
- Share the full documents and invite hard questions.
- Ask for a specific next step with a clear amount and date.
- Many sponsors talk to a securities attorney about their process and offering documents.
People also ask
Is a soft commit worth anything?
Treat it as interest, not a commitment. A short webinar is barely enough time for an investor to agree to start diligence, so follow up with documents and a real conversation.
What if the investor likes me but not my deal?
Ask what they would prefer to invest in. One guest raised only $25,000 on a debt deal his investors did not want, then raised a little over $600,000 on one they did.
How detailed should my materials be?
It depends on the check size. A quarter million may need only a one pager and a video, while $2 million to $5 million calls for a full pitch stack.
Related questions
- How do I collect wire transfers safely from investors?Many sponsors collect investor wires after documents are signed, and send them to a separate account such as escrow or an attorney trust account instead of a personal or operating account.
- What should I do when an investor goes silent?Change the channel before you send another email.
- How do I create urgency without pressuring investors?Use real reasons to decide, like a closing date or a limited allocation, and say them once and plainly.
- How do I handle investor objections about my fees?Answer the objection directly and keep your fee structure simple enough to explain in one breath.
Work through it with the family office fit check. See all closing deals resources.