The advice that survives contact with actual funders is to promise less than you believe and deliver more. Funders have seen many optimistic projections and almost none that were met, so a plan built on conservative assumptions reads as competence while an ambitious one reads as inexperience. That is the opposite of how most founders prepare.
How you present matters as much as what you are presenting.
Know your numbers without notes
What a unit costs to deliver, your margin, your monthly fixed costs, what you are owed and how long customers take to pay. Being unable to answer these from memory undermines everything else you say.
It is also the fastest signal available to a funder. Someone who knows their numbers is running the business; someone who refers to an accountant is being run by it.
Be specific about the amount and its use
Ask for a defined amount tied to specific purchases, supported by quotations. A round sum with a general description of need is consistently weaker, because the funder cannot assess what the money buys.
Say how the funding produces the revenue that repays it. That link is the whole application.
Address the risks before you are asked
Naming what could go wrong and what you would do about it builds more confidence than presenting a plan with no downside. Funders will find the risks anyway; finding them first is the stronger position.
The answers that end meetings badly are ‘we have no competitors’, ‘everyone is a potential customer’, and any projection with no stated assumptions.
Have the compliance ready before the meeting
Registration and current annual returns with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, tax compliance, business banking and financial records. Being asked for these and not having them ends an otherwise good meeting.
Free business planning and mentorship to get to that standard is available through the Small Enterprise Development and Finance Agency.
Frequently asked questions
Why under-promise to a funder?
Because conservative assumptions read as competence, while ambitious projections read as inexperience to people who have seen many unmet forecasts.
Which numbers must I know from memory?
Unit cost, margin, monthly fixed costs, money owed to you and how long customers take to pay.
How should I ask for an amount?
A specific figure tied to specific purchases with quotations, plus how the funding generates the revenue that repays it.
Should I mention risks?
Yes, before being asked. Naming risks and your response builds more confidence than a plan with no downside.
What answers damage a pitch?
Claiming no competitors, saying everyone is a potential customer, and projections with no stated assumptions.
Further reading
Originally published in July 2018. Updated September 2026 into practical guidance on presenting a business to funders.
