What Angel Investors Actually Want – And How to Get in the Room
What Angel Investors Actually Want – And How to Get in the Room
Presented by Gergana (Gerri) Pinto
About the Speaker
Gergana (Gerri) Pinto is a Strategy and Operations Director with 15 years of experience across Big Four consulting and independent advisory work.
She works with Alma Angels, a network supporting women-founded businesses, where she has been involved in early-stage investment assessment and founder advisory.
Drawing on experience from both sides of the investment conversation — preparing founders for funding and evaluating opportunities as an angel investor — Gerri brings a practical and candid perspective on what investors actually look for, what makes an opportunity stand out, and why some founders secure a second meeting while others do not.
She also holds a Certificate in Alternative Investments from Harvard Business School.
About the Workshop
For many founders, angel investment can feel difficult to access and even harder to understand.
What are angel investors really looking for? How do they make decisions? What makes one opportunity stand out from another? And, importantly, how do you actually get in the room with the right investors?
In this practical workshop, Gerri will demystify the angel investment process and give founders a clearer understanding of how angel investors assess early-stage opportunities.
Drawing on her angel investing and due diligence experience through Alma Angels, she will explore what investors look for beyond the headline numbers, what separates a compelling opportunity from an average one, and what can help turn an initial pitch into a second meeting.
The session will also address one of the biggest challenges founders face: gaining access to investors. Attendees will learn practical and credible approaches to securing warm introductions and building meaningful relationships within angel investment networks.
What You’ll Learn
By the end of the workshop, attendees will:
Understand how angel investor decision-making differs from VC decision-making
Gain a clearer picture of what angel investors actually look for in founders and businesses
Understand three credible routes to securing warm introductions into angel networks
Learn what a genuinely strong angel investor pitch deck should contain
Be better prepared to approach, engage and build relationships with angel investors
Understand what can help turn an initial pitch into a second meeting and potentially an investment conversation
Who Should Attend
This workshop is ideal for:
Founders and co-founders preparing to raise angel investment
Startups considering their first external equity raise
Entrepreneurs looking to improve their investor approach
Businesses wanting to strengthen their pitch and investment proposition
Founders looking to better understand how angel investors think and make decisions