What Hustle Fund looks for in a pitch deck

Problem

Evidence the problem is real and large, ideally felt firsthand by the founder — they want founders who lived the pain, not opportunists chasing a market.

“The best founders often have personal experience with the pain point. They're not building something because it seems like a good business opportunity. They're building it because they've lived the problem and know it needs to be solved.” — How Hustle Fund Reviews 1000+ Startups Per Month for Its Angel Investing Group

“Investors want to see that you've done your homework and can convince them that this is a massive problem.” — Tam Pham

“They're building it because they've lived the problem and know it needs to be solved.” — Brian Nichols

Solution

Something tangible to evaluate — a prototype, MVP, or even a Figma — but product scores lowest of all axes, so a weak product won't kill a strong team.

“But investors want to see something. Like a prototype, an MVP, or even a Figma design.” — Your pitch deck only needs 5 slides

“even if we don't believe the current product is great or we don't believe the team can fundraise, we're often still willing to make the bet anyway.” — Elizabeth Yin

Market size

Not a big TAM number — they treat TAM as nearly useless — but a market that could support a billion-dollar outcome and, more importantly, demonstrable market pull (how fast customers adopt).

“Market pull is a velocity measurement. It answers the question: how quickly are customers adopting this product?” — How to Evaluate Startup Market Size (Hint: TAM is Basically Useless)

“Before anyone at Hustle Fund even looks at a deck in detail, they ask one question: if everything goes right, can this be a huge business?” — Brian Nichols

“Companies with real market pull do not need to hard-sell. Customers are already looking for a solution.” — Brian Nichols

“Tiffany charges $499 per membership. Let's assume everything goes right and she wins 20% of the market share. 20m people paying $500 a year – that's a revenue opportunity of $10b.” — Brian Nichols

Traction

Evidence of momentum, not revenue — customer discovery, waitlists/pre-sales, and depth of insight about the customer funnel. Velocity of experimentation counts as traction.

“Traction at the pre-seed level is not about impressive numbers. It is about evidence of momentum.” — How to Evaluate Startup Traction at the Earliest Stages (It is Not About Revenue)

“A company doing $5K per month with a founder who deeply understands their customer funnel is a much better bet than a company doing $20K per month with a founder who cannot explain where the revenue is coming from.” — Brian Nichols

“A founder who has 50 people on a waitlist who signed up after a 15-minute discovery call is much more interesting.” — Brian Nichols

“We want to see founders moving fast and trying things, even if those things are not perfect.” — Brian Nichols

Team

The single most heavily weighted axis. Resilient, productive, fast-learning, coachable founders — ideally with relevant background and the ability to sell. At pre-seed the team slide is the most important thing.

“you can see that our investment team cares about "team" most importantly.” — Data on how we invest at Hustle Fund

“The most important thing Eric cares about in pre-seed companies is the team.” — Tam Pham

“Great execution meets high velocity.” — Eric Bahn

“The best founders know what they don't know. They seek advice, consider different perspectives.” — Brian Nichols

Business model

Not proven unit economics, but evidence the founder has thought through how money flows — a healthy margin between CAC and LTV and a clear revenue model. They explicitly invest based on business model / unit economics.

“We invest in companies based on a startup's business model / unit economics and the hustle of the founders who lead these companies.” — FAQ

“Investors will scrutinize your unit economics to ensure there's a healthy margin between your customer acquisition cost and the lifetime value of a customer.” — Brian Nichols

“Each order costs you $30 to fulfill, but you only charge customers $25. Does that sound sustainable? Not quite!” — Brian Nichols

“Venture capitalists are essentially investing in the future revenue of your company. So, it's a no-brainer: you'll want to delineate how you'll make money.” — Brian Nichols

Competition

Not the absence of competitors, but whether the founder understands who they compete with and why customers will choose them; a non-competitive space can also be a plus.

“It's not about whether competitors exist. Nearly every good market has competition. It's about whether the founder understands who they're competing with and why customers will choose them instead.” — How Hustle Fund Reviews 1000+ Startups Per Month for Its Angel Investing Group

“It's about whether the founder understands who they're competing with and why customers will choose them instead.” — Brian Nichols

“it was not a competitive space.” — Brian Nichols

Why now

Evidence that timing creates a window — a shift in technology, behavior, or regulation that makes the problem urgent and growing now. They cite timing as the biggest determinant of startup success.

“The 'why now' question matters so much more than the 'how big' question.” — How to Evaluate Startup Market Size (Hint: TAM is Basically Useless)

“His research found that timing was the single biggest factor in whether a startup succeeded.” — Brian Nichols

“the explosion of remote work culture meant that this problem would only get bigger” — Brian Nichols

The ask

A founder who treats fundraising as a series of dialogues, qualifies for fit, and isn't trying to hard-sell. Hustle Fund leads with a $150K first check and is comfortable setting terms.

“Your job is not to try to convince a potential investor to invest. Your job is just to triage.” — The #1 thing most people do wrong when they fundraise

“fundraising is actually a series of dialogues – not pitches – and success is contingent upon need finding and finding the right investor match.” — Elizabeth Yin

“It is much easier for you to close an investor who is already bought into your story than it is to try to sell an investor who is not bought in.” — Elizabeth Yin

“Our first check is $150K.” — FAQ

“fundraising is actually a series of dialogues – not pitches – and success is contingent upon need finding and finding the right investor match.”

“Great execution meets high velocity.”