Investors Aren't Your Customers: Sutin Yang on Why Founders Waste Years Fundraising, the 2-Minute Deck Rule, and Why Angels Beat VCs in This Market

Sutin Yang sold candy on the playground at age 6, started trading stocks at 16, and spent 12 years in finance—first on J.P. Morgan's trading floor, then investing in hedge funds—before finally doing what she'd always wanted: starting her own business.

After hitting her learning ceiling in traditional finance and growing tired of "investing at arm's length for faceless institutions," she co-founded an FCA-authorized property crowdfunding platform, ran Microsoft's AI for Good accelerator program, and eventually landed at Virgin StartUp leading their scale-up programs.

Today, as Co-Founder & Managing Partner of The Fundraising Accelerator, Sutin has reviewed over 3,000 pitch decks and helped portfolio companies raise £38M+ in 18 months—£30M of which she raised hands-on as a freelance advisor working with two Series B companies (before and after her Virgin StartUp tenure), allowing CEOs to focus on running and growing their businesses while she supported their fundraises. Her tagline? "Helping underestimated founders bypass the old boys' club and get funded."

But here's what makes Sutin's approach different: she doesn't sugarcoat the fundraising reality. DocSend data shows investors spend an average of 2 minutes and 24 seconds on decks—they're scanning, not studying. Most founders waste months, sometimes years, trying to raise capital because they focus on product features and technicalities when investors actually want to see traction, market size, go-to-market strategy, and business model. As Sutin puts it: "Investors aren't your customers. They want to know how the business is going to make money, not how your product works."

In this conversation, Sutin breaks down why founders without investor experience immediately reveal themselves in their decks, her framework for building a focused list of 60-150 investors (not the spray-and-pray approach), and why in this challenging market, angel investors remain more willing to take risks than institutional VCs hunting for unicorns. If you've been pitching for months with no traction, or you're about to start fundraising and don't want to waste precious time on the wrong activities, this is the roadmap you need.

1. You transitioned from investment banking at J.P. Morgan to leading Virgin StartUp's scale-up programs, and now you're Co-Founder & Managing Partner of The Fundraising Accelerator. What prompted you to move from traditional finance into the startup ecosystem, and what surprised you most about what founders get wrong when approaching fundraising - especially given your experience reviewing over 3,000 pitch decks?

I'm actually an entrepreneur at heart. I sold candy on the playground at 6 and started trading stocks at 16. I only studied finance to be able to better run my own business one day but ended up in banking instead. After 12 years in finance, first J.P. Morgan's trading floor, then hedge fund investing, I'd hit my learning ceiling and was tired of investing at arm's length for faceless institutions. I was ready to finally do what I'd always wanted: start my own business.

Entering the startup ecosystem felt like coming home. I was learning constantly again: digital marketing, UX design, legal structuring, hiring, everything. The speed, freedom and control were intoxicating. We kept a tight control on expenditure and built a financial model for our business.

What surprised me most about what founders get wrong when approaching financing is that they actually don't know what investors are evaluating and what investors want to see in their pitch decks. It actually makes sense when you think about it as they are amazing at doing whatever their business is, marketing, tech build, etc., but investing isn't their job. It was mine.

You can immediately tell from a deck how much investor experience a founder has. Those without experience spend too much time on product features and technicalities, when investors actually want to see traction, market size potential, go-to-market strategy, and business model. I always tell founders, investors aren't your customers, they want to know how the business is going to make money, not how your product works.

2. You've repeatedly emphasized that "most founders waste months, sometimes years, trying to raise capital" and that decks are "scanned, not studied." For female founders preparing to fundraise, what's the most critical mistake you see them make in their pitch materials or investor approach, and what's your framework for getting investor-ready without wasting precious time on the wrong activities?

The most critical mistake is not having an easy-to-understand, narrative-driven teaser deck covering how your business works, not how your product works.

DocSend data shows investors spend an average of 2 minutes and 24 seconds on decks. That's because they're doing a quick flick test to see if your business fits their investment criteria, makes sense, has traction and is interesting and credible enough to warrant a deeper look or meeting. 

The best way to get investment-ready is joining a fundraising-focused accelerator like ours. We teach the entire process and have built tools, templates, databases, and networks to support successful fundraising. While the full process takes months, here's the framework to start:

• Create a clear, narrative-driven teaser and pitch deck. It should be simple enough that any family member or friend can understand and find it interesting.
• Build a focused list of 60-150 investors. Angels, VCs, or syndicates who actually invest in your sector, geography, stage, and check size.
• Get warm intros wherever possible, then craft short, impactful outreach messages. Start with lower-priority investors to practice.
• Iterate and learn from each message or pitch. Add interested-but-hesitant investors to your update list and continue nurturing them over time.
• Use momentum as touchpoints: sales wins, traction metrics, new partnerships. Build investor relationships like you would with customers.
• Leverage FOMO. Report new commitments and use deadlines to drive investors toward your close date.

The market is tough right now, so fundraising takes longer. If you need cash immediately to keep growing, use instruments like Advanced Subscription Agreements (or SAFEs in the US) to deploy funds while you continue to raise.

3. Through your work as a freelance advisor and at Virgin StartUp's Angel Investment Accelerator and Collective Impact programs, you've helped portfolio companies raise £38M+ in 18 months. You've also noted that angel investors remain more willing to take risks than VCs in this challenging market. How should female founders think differently about approaching angel investors versus institutional VCs, and what are the early warning signs that a founder should focus on revenue growth instead of fundraising?

If available for your business, start by pursuing free money like grant funding or challenge prizes. If you need to fundraise, approach angels before institutional VCs. Angels have simpler due diligence processes and more flexible criteria since they're investing their own money.

Institutional VCs invest on behalf of their investors, called Limited Partners, so they face strict limitations and must hunt for potential unicorns to generate returns that let them raise their next fund. Angels, investing their own capital, can take more risks on sectors they're passionate about, interested in, or have experience in.

The downside is that angel checks are smaller, so you'll need more of them. However, many angel syndicates let you pitch to groups of angels at once, including female-focused angel syndicates like Alma Angels, Hermesa, and Angel Academe.

Early warning signs are if you've been pitching for a couple months and have no interest and no calls at all, then it means your deck and communication needs a lot of work, or you need to go get more traction. In reality, you'll need to try and grow your traction and business even during fundraising, because if you don't, you won't be able to show investors any momentum to make them change their minds. That's what investors are watching for when they say to come back later.

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