An investment teaser is a one-page summary sent before the pitch deck or the CIM: what the company does, the market, traction, key numbers and the ask, with enough to decide whether to read more.
Investors and buyers see far more opportunities than they can read in full. The teaser is how they sort them. A good one takes two minutes to read and ends with a clear next step. For a raise, that step is a request for the deck and a call. For a business sale, it's signing an NDA to see the full numbers.
Raise vs sale
Raise teaser vs sale teaser
The page looks similar in both cases. Who reads it, and what happens next, are different.
| Teaser for a raise | Teaser for a business sale | |
|---|---|---|
| Who reads it | Angels and venture funds, sometimes family offices | Trade buyers and private equity firms |
| Named or anonymous | Named | Usually anonymous, often called a blind teaser |
| What follows it | The pitch deck and a first call | An NDA, then the CIM |
| The ask | The round size and what it pays for | "Offers invited," with the deal type |
What goes on it
What goes on it, in order
Eight blocks, top to bottom. Each one gets a line or two, rarely more.
- Headline line. What the company does and for whom, in one sentence a stranger understands.
- Problem and product. The problem in one line, and how the product solves it in another.
- Market. How many customers could buy, and what they spend. One number with its source beats three big ones.
- Traction. The proof it works: paying customers, revenue, growth or signed pilots.
- Business model. Who pays, and how much per month or year.
- Key numbers. Four or five figures from the model, like revenue or ARR, gross margin, burn and churn.
- Team, or the reason for sale. For a raise, why these founders. For a sale, why the owner is selling.
- The ask and next step. The round size or "offers invited," and exactly what the reader should do next.
Worked example
Worked example: a made-up company's teaser
Rotaline is a made-up company. It sells B2B software and is raising a $1.5M seed round. Here's its teaser, block by block.
Rotaline (a made-up company) · Seed round · $1.5M
Headline. Rotaline fills open shifts at small clinics in minutes instead of days.
Problem and product. Small clinics fill gaps in their staff rota by phone and group chat, and a missed shift means cancelled patients. Rotaline sends each open shift to qualified staff and books the first person who says yes.
Market. About 40,000 independent clinics in our first two countries, each spending on agency staff to cover gaps.
Traction. 85 clinics paying today, up from 22 a year ago. Monthly revenue of $34,000, up from $9,000.
Business model. $400 per clinic per month, billed yearly in advance.
Key numbers. ARR $408,000 · gross margin 82% · monthly churn 1.5% · net burn $70,000 a month.
Team. The CEO ran operations for a clinic group for eight years. The CTO built scheduling software for hospital rotas.
The ask. Raising $1.5M to reach 300 clinics in 18 months, mostly for sales hires. Reply to this email for the deck and a 30-minute call.
Check the numbers against each other, the way an investor will. 85 clinics × $400 = $34,000 a month, and $34,000 × 12 = $408,000 of ARR. $1.5M at $70,000 a month is about 21 months of runway, which covers the 18-month plan with some room to spare. On a real teaser, every one of those figures comes from the financial model.
Anonymous version
The anonymous version for a business sale
When an owner sells, the teaser usually goes out without the company's name. Staff and customers shouldn't learn about the sale from a forwarded PDF. Buyers see the anonymous teaser first and the full numbers after they sign the NDA.
Take off
- The company's name and logo
- The exact town or street
- Customer and supplier names
- Founder and staff names
Keep on
- The sector and the region
- Revenue in a band, like $2M to $3M
- EBITDA in a band, like $400,000 to $600,000
- The reason for sale and the deal type
So a line like "[Name] Dental, three clinics in [city], $2.4M revenue" becomes "Multi-site dental group, northern England, revenue $2M to $3M." That's enough for a buyer to say yes to the NDA, and too little to identify the business. If you're preparing a sale, see our business sale teaser and CIM service.
Side by side
Teaser vs pitch deck vs CIM
Three documents, read in that order. Each one earns the reader's time for the next.
| Length | When it's sent | What it's for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teaser | One page | First, often with a short email | Getting the reader to ask for more |
| Pitch deck | About 12 to 20 slides | Before or after the first call, in a raise | Making the full case for an investment |
| CIM | Often dozens of pages | After the NDA, in a sale | Giving a buyer the detail to make an offer |
After the deck or the CIM comes due diligence, which is where the data room opens.
Mistakes
Five mistakes
- Numbers that don't match the deck. If the teaser says $400,000 of ARR and the deck says $380,000, the reader stops trusting both. Give one number per question, as our data room mistakes case study explains.
- Too long. A teaser that runs to four pages is a short deck. Cut it back to one.
- No ask. If the reader doesn't know what you want or what to do next, they'll do nothing.
- Jargon. Write for a smart reader outside your industry. Spell out every acronym the first time, or drop it.
- Naming the company in a confidential sale. One forwarded email can reach your staff or your biggest customer. Keep the sale teaser anonymous.
For firms
For firms sending teasers for many companies
Venture firms, accelerators and advisors who send teasers for many companies get the most from one format used every time. Investors learn where to look, and every company is judged on the same facts. Build each teaser from that company's financial model, so the figures match the deck that follows. We write teasers this way under our partners' own brand, as part of a model, deck and teaser package. See our white-label service.
Your questions
Questions founders ask
What is an investment teaser?
An investment teaser is a one-page summary of a company, sent to investors or buyers before the pitch deck or the CIM. It covers what the company does, the market, traction, key numbers and the ask. Its job is to get the reader to ask for the deck, or to sign an NDA for the full numbers.
How long should an investment teaser be?
One page for a raise. Some sale teasers run to two pages, but shorter is better. If it needs more room than that, the extra detail belongs in the pitch deck or the CIM.
What is the difference between a teaser and a CIM?
A teaser is a one-page summary sent first, often without the company's name in a sale. A CIM, or confidential information memorandum, is a long document with the full detail a buyer needs to make an offer. Buyers usually sign an NDA after the teaser and before they get the CIM.
Should a teaser name the company?
For a raise, yes. Investors need to know who you are. For a business sale, usually not. An anonymous teaser shows the sector and region, plus revenue and EBITDA in bands, so buyers can decide whether to sign an NDA without learning which business it is.
Is a teaser the same as an executive summary?
They're close. An executive summary is often the first page of a business plan or a longer document, while a teaser stands on its own and is sent first. A teaser also ends with a clear ask and next step, which an executive summary often doesn't.
Next step
Send us your numbers
Send us your model, or your accounts if you're selling. We'll write the teaser from it, so the page matches the deck or the CIM that follows.
Want to see what comes after the teaser? Read the deck and data room guide.