When it comes to raising money, you could be forgiven for thinking “the pitch” will be the main determinant as to whether you are successful or not. While the pitch should be a distillation of the business and the parameters of your deal – and is therefore very important – it really only represents less than 5% of the overall conversation and process a successful capital raising follows.

A successful capital raising starts long before you begin putting the slide show together. Like any meaningful campaign, successfully raising money from investors is a process that should span, generally speaking, between three and nine months.

If you’re an early stage business, or even a seed stage business, becoming investor-ready is a process of proving up your concept, minimizing the risk, and maximizing the future growth potential.

Raising money from investors is a bi-product of building a great company. Indeed, many of the capital raisings I have done for my own businesses and acquisitions over the years, were never accompanied by a pitch deck. They were the result of building a strong business, or if its very early in the piece building a robust strategy, and then having meaningful conversations with smart investors.

As investors we want to see proof of concept, consumer insight and understanding, a well articulated problem, a proposed solution (even if it’s understood the solution will be iterated upon in the coming years), a strong growth strategy, a healthy valuation methodology, an appetite for direction and input from advisors, and most of all we want to see a great human being at the forefront, having an honest conversation.

Like in any field of business, raising money is a skill. It can be learnt and it can be done well. However in order to do it well you need to be looking at, and working on, what matters. The pitch should be important in that it highlights the work and preparation that has occurred, but if all that has gone into the pitch is a well put together slide show, then your deal may lack the substance to bring in the dollars.