How to pitch complex ideas to any investor

On 29 January 2026 at Startup Day in Tartu, Kerli Luks (Muun Health) and Terje Eichelmann (Lightcode Photonics) discussed one of the hardest problems in fundraising: how to explain highly complex, science-heavy products to investors. The seminar was moderated by Seren Rumjancevs (Dealum). 

Kerli and Terje both represent deep-tech and health-tech companies where the technology is novel, the timelines are long, and the risks are high – exactly the situations where founders most often “lose” their audience. Through practical experience, the speakers showed how to simplify without dumbing down, how to adapt to different investor profiles, and how to shift the pitch from explaining how something works to proving why it matters. 

5 things most new founders get wrong

Kerli didn’t start with a business idea but a clinical frustration. As a medical doctor, she saw in everyday practice how little real-time data exists about female hormones and how under-researched and underfunded women’s health still is. “I noticed the need in my clinical practice and started Muun Health about two and a half years ago.”

Terje entered Lightcode Photonics from the opposite direction. She came from business and automotive, not from physics. Her role was to be a translator between PhD-level optics and investors. “I’m not an expert in the field. I was invited to support physics doctors in pitching and interacting with different stakeholders.” This outsider position revealed that when founders speak as experts, they often forget how little the audience actually understands.

Kerli and Terje described the most common mistakes early-stage founders make in pitching: 

1. Starting from technology instead of problem – new founders are proud of what they have built and naturally begin with how it works. Investors, however, start with why it should exist. As one investor interrupted a pitch: “I don’t have time. What is the problem, how are you going to solve it, and how are we making money together?” Many first-time founders only learn this after dozens of confused meetings.
2. Overloading with detail to prove credibility – Kerli described her early slides as “totally full” of hormone curves, measurement logic, and technical parameters. Founders think that if they show everything they know, they create trust. In reality, the opposite happens. Too much detail makes the story harder to follow.
3. Pitching everyone instead of targeting – at the beginning, Kerli spoke to almost all kinds of angels and generalists. Only later did she realise that she had to go very narrow and target ruthlessly. “When you have something complex and very specific, it is best to look into highly specialized funds.” New founders often burn months trying to convince investors who are never going to be a match.
4. Underestimating expectation gaps – hardware and health-tech timelines, regulatory paths, and capital needs are very different from software. Terje warned that when founders pitch to investors with SaaS mental models, they often unconsciously overpromise speed and simplicity. This leads to disappointment on both sides.
5. Confusing simplification with dumbing down – early founders fear that if they simplify too much, they will look shallow. Terje’s PhD colleague even said one early pitch sounded “almost painful” because it was so simplified. But the real skill is choosing which complexity actually matters for the decision.

10 practical tips for pitching complex ideas 

1. Bring highly specialized investors on board first

Lead with investors who have deep expertise in your sector. Generalist investors are more likely to follow once a specialized lead is on board, but they rarely take the first risk. Having someone experienced on board not only validates your startup but also provides guidance throughout the fundraising and growth journey. As Kerli put it, as a first-time founder, she didn’t want to go through the learning curve with her investors: “It’s best to have someone who has already done it before.”

2. Look for strategic synergies in investor portfolios

Terje explained a very practical tactic: she checks whether an investor already has portfolio companies that could become customers, suppliers, or validation partners, and explicitly pitches that “two birds with one stone” angle.

3. Separate “investor pitch” from “academic/partner pitch”

Maintain two different decks with different depth and purpose: 

• The investor deck focused on market opportunity, business model, and return potential, with only enough technical detail to support the story. 
• The academic/partner deck is for partners expecting depth of science, methodology, and technical validation. 

Investors don’t need every technical nuance, and academics don’t care about the exact financial exit plan. Keeping them separate avoids overloading slides, losing focus, or confusing the audience, and ensures that each group gets the information that matters most to them. 

4. Use angels as amplifiers, not just capital

Early angel investors often want to “help” and will naturally start coaching, introducing, and talking about the company. Lean into this, let them help, and turn them into informal ambassadors.

5. Delay fundraising until higher TRL if at all possible

Terje gave a concrete warning: in hardware and deep tech, don’t start raising capital too early (before TRL 4–5). “Delay the time you exit the lab, because the journey is going to be very long. If you need to raise too many rounds, at the end of the day, you don't have too many shares left. You may have a very nice, successful company, but it doesn’t belong to you any longer.” 

6. Practice precise, tailored pitching

Use pitch competitions to refine precise 3- or 5-minute presentations – or just practice those pitches at home. Research each investor’s background and tailor your approach: technical investors appreciate detailed metrics, while those with business or sales experience respond better to strategic and market-focused insights. “Investors are human, and they also want to add their own knowledge on this field to the conversation,” described Kerli. Adapting your pitch to the audience makes one-on-one conversations more effective.

7. Make it memorable and have fun

You don’t always have to stay in a rigid script. Terje says that early on, she focused on delivering technical details perfectly, but she’s more playful now. “At a reception in Singapore, I began my pitch with, “I can see there are people old enough to remember Katie Melua’s song ‘Nine Billion Bicycles in Beijing’”. At the end of the pitch, I brought it full circle by saying: “I hope next time you hear the song, you will remember me and text.” The next day, an engineering VP saw me and started singing the song,” she described creating a memory hook. 

8. Use “wrong questions” as diagnostic tools

Kerli noted that some questions reveal that investors don’t fully understand the problem – for example, asking why women don’t just use a cycle tracking app or do more blood tests. “Those questions signal that I need to explain why our approach matters more clearly. I don’t start from scratch every time, but I adjust how I present it based on the investor’s background. Generalist investors, often men, may not want deep biological details, so I frame it around relatable, use-case scenarios – like imagine you and your partner have issues with getting pregnant – to help make it more understandable,” described Kerli.

9. Check for regulatory literacy 

In regulated industries, it’s important that the investors understand the regulations – filter for this early. Healthtech investors are familiar with medical certifications, pre-clinical and clinical testing, longer timelines, and higher capital requirements. Generalist investors often have no prior knowledge of the regulations, so they have no reference point. Seek investors who already understand regulatory and certification pathways, as they are better equipped to evaluate risk and support the company over the long term.

10. Simplify the decision, not the technology

Kerli repeatedly said not to simplify the science, but simplify the decision for the investor: “It sounds very simple, but it's super difficult to put into practice for a deep tech startup. They’ve invented a very cool technology, but does the market actually need this?” Terje added: “Do you really understand the product? If you’re building cameras for warehouse robotics, have you ever even been to a warehouse? How can you convince me that you can solve their problems?”

Bottom line – complexity doesn’t lose investors, lack of clarity does

Pitching complex technology is not about making investors understand everything you know. It’s about helping them make a clear decision with limited time, attention, and context. The founders who succeed are those who choose their investors carefully, adapt their communication, and focus on why the problem matters, why their solution is credible, and why this opportunity fits that specific investor. If investors walk away remembering the problem, the value, and why you are the right team to solve it, the pitch has hit the mark.