What I tell every PhD founder before their first pitch

‍Academic founders arrive at their first investor meeting with years of research behind them and, often, very little pitching experience. Darren Evans, managing director and founder of The Engine Room, shares the advice he gives them first.

Some of the most impressive people I work with have never pitched a business before. They're PhD founders who've spent years breaking new ground in their field. They can defend their work in front of a room of peers with ease. But when they're asked to explain it to an investor in ten minutes, something gets lost in translation.

That isn't a reflection of their ability – their work is progressive, brimming with depth and precision. But investment typically rewards clarity, relevance and confidence, which doesn’t always come in tandem. 

That’s why, with more university spin-outs now heading for seed and pre-seed rounds, I find myself giving the same advice again and again. So, looking at this through a brand lens, here's what I’d tell every PhD founder before their first pitch.

1. Investors fund businesses, not research

This is the most crucial initial point. Your research is the reason the business exists, but it isn't what an investor is buying. They're buying a company that will solve a problem for paying customers and grow, predictably. 

2. Start with the problem, not the breakthrough

It's natural to open with what you've invented. But hone that conversation so you talk about the challenge you’re solving too. Defining the size of the problem, the size of the market and the size of the opportunity, roughly in that order, demonstrates growth potential clearly and succinctly.

3. Name your first customer

"This could help almost anyone" might feel like a strength, but to an investor, it often sounds like you haven't decided where to begin. Be specific about who your ‘invention’ is specifically for – the sector, the role, the problem they wake up with and exactly how you solve it.

4. Be clear about what's for sale

In many spin-outs, the team, the research and the product blur together. Investors need to know which is which. What is the product? Where does the IP sit? Who in the room will run the business, and who will lead the science? 

5. If it isn't easy to say, it won't be easy to believe

I ask founders to describe their business to someone with no technical background, without jargon or acronyms. It's usually the hardest ten minutes of the session, because it’s incredibly difficult communicating a complex topic with clarity, without losing its credibility. 

But if the language risks getting ‘lost in translation’, the transition from research-proven to market-ready, will be tough. Conversely, when a proposition is easy to say and obviously relevant, founders stop reciting and start talking with visible confidence that investors notice.

6. Show you understand what you're asking customers to change

Most spin-outs have naturally done solid market research. But fewer have thought hard about the human barriers to adoption. Who has to approve the purchase? What does the customer have to stop doing, learn or risk? The smaller the ‘ask’ of a customer, the stronger the commercial case for your ‘invention’. 

Showing you've considered this tells an investor you understand how buying decisions are really made.

7. Let them back you, not just the technology

Early-stage investors are betting on people as much as products. They want to understand why you started, why you won't give up, and why you're the right team to take this to market. Founders from research backgrounds often play this down, as if their own motivation is beside the point. But it isn't. A little conviction, and dare I say emotion, makes a pitch memorable.

8. Look like a business, not a project

First impressions do a lot of work before you've said a word. A name that still sounds like a research project, or slides that read like a journal abstract, quietly signal that the venture hasn't left the lab. 

That doesn't mean spending a fortune on design, and it certainly doesn't mean a generic AI-generated template that looks like everyone else's. It means your name, deck and website all telling the same clear story. Coherence reduces perceived risk, and reducing risk is most of what a pitch is for.

RunPilot, a software spin-out from the University of Sheffield, is a good example. With a new name, a sharper proposition and an identity to match, its founders went on to secure £140,000 of early-stage funding. 

The science got you here

At no point should this advice be perceived as me asking founders to dumb down their work. It’s quite the opposite. The depth of their PhD thinking is a sign of their entrepreneurial spirit, and their research has already proven that the idea works. But the pitch now has to prove there's a business worth backing, and that the people in front of the investor are the ones to build it. So don’t let incredible science lose out to what is essentially average storytelling.

Darren Evans is managing director and founder of The Engine Room, a team of B2B brand specialists based in Yorkshire.

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