What 40,000 swipes taught us about the 45-second pitch

Profiles with video get 2.4× more matches. We watched what separates the videos that convert from the ones that get passed in three seconds.

The best-performing pitches share a structure: one sentence on who you are, one number that proves momentum, one sentence on what you are looking for. Founders who lead with the problem lose viewers by second twelve; founders who lead with traction hold them to the end.

Production quality barely matters. Phone camera, decent light, real office noise — conversion is statistically identical to studio footage. What matters is specificity: “4 utility operators live in Germany and Poland” outperforms “strong enterprise traction” by a wide margin.

The counterintuitive one: mentioning your ask on camera raises match rates with investors whose check size fits — and lowers them with everyone else. Which is exactly what you want. A pitch that filters is doing its job.

June Park, design

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