A step-by-step guide for crafting your Canadian start-up pitch
A step-by-step guide for crafting your Canadian start-up pitch
The Canadian tech sector is poised for growth in 2025, and you may feel ready to take your business to the next level. However, you’ll still have to convince investors that you really are to gain the financing you need to support the growth of your business in a highly competitive landscape.
To navigate the process of pitching your start-up, it is important to understand:
- The phases of a financing plan
- What investors are looking for
Seeking financing for the first time can be an exciting and overwhelming experience for early-stage entrepreneurs. The Canadian tech sector is poised for growth in 2025, and you may feel ready to take your business to the next level. However, you’ll still have to convince investors to gain the financing you need to support the growth of your business in a highly competitive landscape.
There are countless variables that impact whether your start-up will receive financing, but preparation can ensure that you’re in the best possible position to succeed. We’ve rounded up key milestones of the financing process to help you set yourself up for success.
What are the phases of a financing plan?
While timelines may vary, it takes on average between three and 12 months to close a financing. Below is a general guide on the phases of building an investment pitch from start to finish, and the materials you should have prepared.
Phase One
Complete due diligence on your company, prepare your financial projections and key marketing documents, and establish a list and profile of preferred investors.
Timelines:
- Investee due diligence: Two to four weeks
- Preparing an investor list: Four weeks
- Developing a marketing approach: Five weeks
Phase Two
You’re ready to approach investors. You’ll be doing a lot of work presenting financing proposals, identifying keen investors, and facilitating the investor due diligence process.
Timelines:
- Securing initial offers: Three to six weeks
- Investor due diligence: Six to eight weeks
Phase Three
This phase involves selecting final offers before negotiating and closing the capital raising transaction. During this time, you’ll be determining whether the price, form, and financing structure are right for you. Develop a negotiating strategy that leans in your favour as you close on business terms and review legal documents.
Timelines:
- Select final offers: Six to eight weeks
- Negotiate and close the capital raising transaction: Six to eight weeks
What investors are looking for
You can’t read investors’ minds, but there are common threads most will be thinking about as they evaluate your pitch. Here are the top 10 considerations, along with related items that would fall into each bucket.
Proprietary product or service
Patents; expertise; barrier to entry; strategic partnerships; licenses; and presence of recurring revenue. Additionally, start-ups that emphasize the use of AI in their products have experienced increased interest from investors that is predicted to continue in 2025.
Sustainability
Does the product improve people’s lives? Does it solve a problem? Or, is it a fad?
Proof of concept
Prototypes; demos; customer pilots / testimonials / pre-orders; a go-to-market strategy.
Attractiveness of industry
Competition among investors to enter hot markets can drive up valuations and make it easier to find investors. High-growth sectors (between 10 to 30 percent per year) are the most attractive.
For example, artificial intelligence (AI) was the dominant tech success story of 2024 and valuations for AI start-ups skyrocketed. Research from the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) suggests this will continue to be a hot market in 2025 and there are also signs of a potential clean technology boom.
Global annual revenues of the sector
Anything over $1 billion indicates strong demand, room for other players, and a likelihood the investor can see an exit.
Competition
Investors see risk in mature markets with well-established competitors — and therefore favour new or existing markets which are poorly served by the status quo. Demonstrate a sustainable competitive advantage.
Five-year revenues
Early-stage investors will seek liquidity events about three to five years after investing.
Scalability
Demonstrate your ability to increase revenues with relatively little increase to your fixed costs, or additional capital investment.
Security
The volume of cyber crime is continuing to rise in 2025, with tools, tactics, and techniques that are becoming much more efficient to execute. Tech start-ups are an appealing target to cyber criminals due to their valuable intellectual property (IP) and significant amounts of personal data. Demonstrating that your start-up has an effective cyber security strategy in place to mitigate risks can help build investor confidence.
Strength of management team
Demonstrate management’s ability to execute on the business and address vacancies — and show off your advisory board. Layoffs in 2023 and 2024 have created many challenges for technology companies and showing that you have enough talent to reach your objectives can help set your business apart from others in the industry.
Skin in the game
Include founders’ time and capital spent on this venture.
Take the next steps
The Canadian tech sector is poised to accelerate in 2025 — and your start-up needs to take the right steps to gain financing to support its growth. Understanding the key milestones of the financing process and knowing what investors are looking for can help set your start-up apart from the rest and achieve success.
Seize the opportunities ahead for Canadian tech
Our advisors work with tech companies across the country to support all areas of the business — from tax planning to exit strategies. To learn more about how MNP can support your organization, contact a member of our Technology, Media, and Telecommunications team.
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