Last week we hosted a highly selective, closed startup pitch & awards event in LA ✨

It was a very focused room — 10 startup finalists (out of 300+ applications) and a little over 20 active investors, angels, and operators who are currently investing.

I didn’t want to send a typical event recap.
Instead, I wanted to share a few observations from the room that I think are genuinely useful if you’re fundraising — or planning to raise.

1️⃣ Storytelling matters more than founders want it to

Some of the most technically impressive startups struggled to keep investors engaged — not because the ideas weren’t good, but because it was hard to emotionally connect to the problem early on.

The teams that did well made investors care within the first few minutes.
They didn’t oversimplify the tech — but they explained why this problem matters in a way that was easy to follow and feel.

You could see the difference clearly in the room:
when investors are emotionally engaged, they stay present, ask better questions, and want to keep talking.

2️⃣ “Useful” products don’t always create excitement

There were several solid, well-executed products that clearly worked as businesses:
legal AI tools, creator payments, B2B SaaS with AI layers.

What separated the ideas that sparked real interest was whether investors could see a path to something meaningfully large.

Not just “this works” — but “this could become very big.”
We’re talking 100x-return scale big.

Most investors were reacting far more to enormous upside — especially whether the market and problem felt big enough to justify the risk.

3️⃣ The strongest pitches showed a clear view of the future

The teams that stood out weren’t only talking about today’s pain points.

They had a clear perspective on how the world is changing over the next 5–10 years, what will become painful as a result — and why they’re building early 🚀

That ability to look ahead — and articulate it clearly — consistently resonated.

For context, the room included:
  Unchecked Ventures — one of the few funds backing only immigrant founders, often writing the first check
  TiE SoCal Angels — the largest angel network in Southern California
 A former NBA athlete now running a $25M+ fund, actively investing
 A seasoned angel who was among the earliest investors in SpaceX
  Managing Director of Startup Grind and Director of Techstars LA


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