This webinar explains why most capital raises struggle long before a pitch deck is written. Traditional “sell-side” preparation focuses on documentation, polish, and marketing platforms, while investors make decisions through a buy-side lens that tests the underlying business and investment thesis.

Join to unpack the gap between these approaches and show why investor readiness is about surfacing gaps and fixing fundamentals, not improving presentation. The session highlights what investors truly assess and how a structured buy-side process identifies the issues that determine whether capital actually flows.

You will leave with a practical view of how to build genuine investability before going marketing-ready, turning fundraising from a risky sales exercise into the natural consequence of a strong, investable business.

About the presenters

Mike Ganon is an on-the-tools expert in corporate development, financing, mergers and acquisitions, investing and capital markets. Starting in the post-crash environment of 1990, he’s built a diverse career as a project financier, equity underwriter, investment banker, responsible manager, key person for a private equity fund manager and founder of two corporate advisory firms. He’s advised on and arranged hundreds of transactions across Industry 2, 3, and 4, on six continents and with deal credits in the double figure billions. Mike backs startups and scaleups directly and also invests indirectly as a limited partner. Leading NextLevelCorporate which he founded in 2001, he continues to work across the full advisory and transactional spectrum—private and public fundraising, M&A, exits, and professional investing—and has authored over 430 articles on key macro and financial factors that impact on Western Australian business. Mike is passionate about bringing unique and accessible investor readiness “superpowers” to founders and intrapreneurs—and through pitchhawk, he is helping them transform their innovations into compelling and dependable investment opportunities.

Stephen Carroll is a 25-year startup veteran who has seen the good, the bad, and the very ugly of Innovation. Thousands of startups and innovation projects have crossed his desk, giving him a unique insight into the patterns that drive success and the pitfalls that lead to failure. Stephen is passionate about shedding light on the common mistakes founders can avoid and the smart, grounded decisions that separate those who survive from those who don’t.

Contact the host of Seminar #2: Why buy-side investor readiness eats sell-side polish for breakfast