Startup 2 Standup 
Five practical takeaways
- Angel investors want evidence of a business, not simply a promising idea.
- Traction should prove the problem, solution and customer demand.
- Investment should accelerate growth rather than fund basic testing.
- A pitch deck needs credible financial and commercial evidence behind it.
- Fundraising is a skill founders may need more than once.
Summary
During our Startup 2 Standup session, Hatty Fawcett, founder of Focused For Business, explained what changes when founders move from friends-and-family funding to professional angel investment.
Her central message was straightforward: investors want evidence. Founders need to demonstrate that the problem matters, the solution works, customers will pay and the business is ready to use investment for growth.
Introduction
What makes an angel investor take a founder seriously?
It is a question that comes up regularly in our founder conversations. To explore it properly, we invited Hatty Fawcett into the room.
Hatty explained that she had raised three investment rounds for her own startup and had also looked after investments made by Kelly Hoppen while Hoppen appeared on Dragons’ Den. During our session, she broke down what investors mean by traction, why a pitch deck is not enough and what founders should prepare before starting a round.
Here are seven of the clearest takeaways.
Takeaway 1: Recognise that angels are backing the opportunity
Hatty explained that friends and family often invest because they know the founder. They trust their character, ability and commitment.
Angel investors take a more objective view. They are assessing the opportunity and looking for evidence that it is already becoming a business.
A founder’s story may help begin the conversation, but Hatty’s point was that professional investors will also expect evidence of the business opportunity.
Ask yourself: What would convince someone who does not know me that this is a credible business?
Takeaway 2: Quantify the customer problem
Hatty encouraged founders to move beyond saying that a problem is frustrating or important.
Investors want to understand its scale. How many people experience it? How often? What does it cost in time, money, missed revenue or another measurable outcome?
During the session, Hatty shared examples involving clothing waste and the cost of teams failing to follow contractual obligations. Her point was not simply that these were real problems. It was that their impact could be quantified.
Takeaway 3: Prove that the solution works
Hatty said that, in her experience, founders approaching investors in the UK and much of Europe now generally need to have built a minimum viable product rather than presenting only an idea.
They should also be able to show customer or potential-customer testing, such as a beta trial or an initial period of use.
That testing needs to produce useful evidence. Does the product save customers time or money? Does it help them achieve something they could not do before?
Hatty also noted that grant funding can sometimes help founders reach this stage when the product involves complex development, deep technology or clinical trials.
Takeaway 4: Show that customers will pay
A working product is not automatically a working business.
Hatty explained that investors will look for evidence that founders know who the right customers are, how to reach them and what sales process turns interest into revenue.
They will also want to see that customers will pay an appropriate price. Repeat purchases, recurring revenue or loyal customers can provide further evidence where they suit the business model.
Takeaway 5: Build a team that can support growth
Professional investors assess the team behind the opportunity because, as Hatty put it, people get things done.
Founders need to show self-awareness about their own strengths and limitations. One person rarely has every skill required to build and grow a company.
Hatty explained that investors are not expecting a perfect business or a team with no gaps, but they will expect founders to recognise and discuss those gaps.
Takeaway 6: Prepare more than a pitch deck
Hatty warned founders not to treat one pitch deck as the whole fundraising process.
Different stages may require a short elevator pitch, a presented deck, a more detailed business plan and information that allows an investor to begin due diligence.
The numbers also need to support the story.
| Investor question | Evidence founders may need |
| Is the problem meaningful? | Quantified customer impact |
| Does the solution work? | Testing and customer outcomes |
| Will people pay? | Sales and pricing evidence |
| Can the company deliver? | A capable, balanced team |
| How will it grow? | An activity-led forecast |
| Can I make a return? | Valuation and a potential exit route |
Hatty was particularly clear about financial forecasts. Applying an arbitrary percentage increase each month does not explain growth.
A forecast should show which activities drive revenue and cost, including new products, new markets or customer segments and the way the team grows over time.
Hatty illustrated this by sharing the example of a business that joined the Focused For Business Funding Accelerator while preparing for an angel investment round.
The founders had a strong pitch but were not progressing after investor meetings. Hatty reported that a more detailed forecast helped investors understand the company’s route to growth and supported the completion of its funding round.
Takeaway 7: Build fundraising skills inside the business
One founder asked Hatty about introduction fees and success fees for people helping companies find investors.
Hatty said she was not a fan of success fees or brokers for early-stage fundraising because founders are likely to need to raise again.
Completely outsourcing fundraising can leave the business dependent on someone else when the next round arrives. Hatty favoured a supported approach in which founders receive tools, guidance and feedback while learning how to manage the process themselves.
This was Hatty’s professional view, rather than legal or regulatory guidance.
Another founder asked about attracting investment for government technology.
Hatty suggested focusing on the size of the problem, the measurable time or money saved and evidence that the business can sell into government or enterprise organisations with long sales cycles.
How can founders continue the conversation?
Our role at SU2SU is to bring real founder questions into a room with people who understand them.
Founders can watch Hatty Fawcett’s complete session, or visit the Startup 2 Standup YouTube channel.
Founders can also explore our weekly Founder Surgery calls, where members share current challenges, hear peer perspectives and continue conversations raised during expert sessions.
SU2SU membership includes access to Founder Surgery meetings and expert-speaker sessions, with the exact level of access depending on the current membership option. Founders can review the available routes on our Become a Member page.
Conclusion
Hatty’s point was that founders do not need a perfect business before speaking to angel investors, but they should understand the gaps and show that the company is ready to use investment for growth.
What we took away was the importance of evidence: evidence of a meaningful problem, a working solution, paying customers, an effective team and a credible route to growth.
The pitch may secure attention. The evidence helps an investor decide whether to act.
If this is a question you are working through now, bring it into a SU2SU Founder Surgery, watch the full session or explore Startup 2 Standup membership to continue the conversation with founders and specialists who understand the challenge.
FAQs
What do angel investors look for in an early-stage startup?
Hatty explained that they look for evidence of a significant problem, a working solution, customer demand, commercial traction, a capable team and a credible opportunity for growth.
Can a founder raise angel investment with only an idea?
Hatty’s view was that investors in the UK and much of Europe now generally expect an initial product or service that has already been tested with potential customers.
Is a pitch deck enough to secure angel investment?
Hatty explained that a pitch deck is only one part of the process. Founders may also need a detailed financial forecast, historical accounts where available, a defensible valuation, an exit strategy and information for due diligence.
What should a startup financial forecast show?
It should connect projected growth to specific business activities rather than relying on unsupported monthly percentage increases.
Should founders use a fundraising broker?
Hatty said she preferred founders to develop their own fundraising capability with suitable support, particularly because early-stage businesses may need to raise more than once. This was her professional view, not a universal rule.
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