When is the right time to pitch VCs for funding?

A compelling pitch deck that quickly and clearly presents your startup as an exceptional investment opportunity is a clear edge when raising a round.

But could fundraising be more effective if you knew when to send your pitch deck – the times of year when it’s more likely to be reviewed and when it’s likely to be viewed more often?

If we all had a magical algorithm that could predict exactly which investors would review your deck and when, we’d be fundraising geniuses — closing our round faster and with far less effort.

No such algorithm exists (at least not yet), but I can share some useful data that offers insights into some of these seasonal fundraising trends, with a few that seem to defy conventional wisdom.

The data included in this research came from companies that explicitly opted in to participate by responding to an automated email sent to them. We are incredibly appreciative to these founders for making this research possible. You can read more about our startup opt-in process and other aspects of our methodology here.

What are the best times of year to share your pitch deck with VCs?

As CEO and Co-founder of DocSend, I’m thrilled that over 20,000 founders and VC have used DocSend to raise capital so they can easily see who read their deck, how long they spend viewing it, and how often they access it. The software gives owners of documents control over how to share — they can allow downloading, requires a secure passcode, or even request signing an NDA with one simple click so it doesn’t encumber the viewer.

Although, some Venture Capitalists grumble about this most VCs find the software useful. They use it for raising their funds as well as recommend it to many of their startups.

The aggregate data from 2016 to 2018 points to three major themes you should consider as you’re raising capital.

• October and November get the highest viewership with March ranking in third place
• Summer is not as active as later in the year, the season is not as slow as often believed
• As expected, investors review fewer decks in January and February (but there’s a surprising twist to this data described below)

Pitch decks are viewed most by VCs in October, November, and March

The chart below shows decks shared and visits to those deck.

As you can see the most sharing happens in October and this index is set to a 100. Decks viewed by investors is indexed at 100 based in November, when the most decks are viewed. Note the significant drop by January when link viewership is only 47%, representing less than half the activity for October.

Interestingly, March comes in third as the best month for decks viewed by investors, with an index value of 89, yet fundraisers don’t seem to send many decks in March, only 67% compared to October.

And while summer is often considered a poor season for fundraising, it’s not as unproductive as you might think. Indeed, in July and August decks are reviewed almost as much as in April, May and June.

As for the holiday season? Yes, there’s certainly a significant drop in decks sent and viewed, but an interesting pattern emerges just after the new year begins.

Happy New Year! More views per deck sent

Here’s another chart that presents another key data point – the number of visits per links sent for investors to review:

Here’s the big secret our research revealed: as it turns out decks sent in January and February get roughly five to seven visits each, while during the rest of the year, that level drops to only about three to five visits per deck.

Planning your year for more productive fundraising

One clear take away from this: don’t wait until March to start your fundraising. If you have the luxury of deciding when to fundraise, you should definitely hit the market in January or February. That means while other people are relaxing and enjoying the holiday season, you should be polishing your pitch and deck, and you should be scheduling all your investor meetings. I know you have other things going on, but if there’s one thing you shouldn’t procrastinate on it’s raising capital. Remember: don’t run out of money!

More generally, keep these seasonal trends in mind as you plan your fundraising activities. Remember that while summer may be less productive, it can be a surprisingly active season. And while I’m not sure why fundraisers avoid March when sending decks, it’s actually the third most active month for investors reviewing decks.

For more trends on fundraising, check out our blog or reach out to us on Twitter at: @rheddleston or @docsend.