In 2018-19, DoNotPay took a year and failed to raise our Seed round. After almost every VC firm rejected us, despite our metrics being good, I realized the problem was actually with my pitch. With my last few pitches, I changed three things and our success changed overnight:

First, DoNotPay was a free product at the time. So the pitch included how we intended to monetize. In the previous version, I suggested that we monetize with ads/referrals. I removed all of that and said "subscription" instead.

Second, VCs had a difficult time imagining what DoNotPay could become. What public companies were we aiming to replicate? So I added a slide with the Intuit logo ($110bn public company) with a detailed plan of how we intend to become the "Turbotax of consumer rights."

Third, I included a live demo of a bot signing in to Bank of America, checking every fee and doing all the clicking to fight them. The demo helped investors visualize exactly what we did for our users.

Nothing changed about the substance of the company. But we went from a dozen rejections before the changes to multiple term sheets in the next week. Especially in times of uncertainty (the Fed was also raising rates in early 2019), presentation matters more than ever.

If you are pitching more than 5-10 people and they say "no," you should definitely reflect on changing the pitch. Perhaps the only thing holding you back are a few cosmetic changes, similar to our experience! I would also be happy to take a look. Feel free to DM me