Inside the Jury Room: Why Investors Back Founders, Not Just Ideas by Nathaly Bachmann
09.06.2026
A strong startup pitch is not about sounding perfect. Inside the Venture Kick jury room, experienced investors and entrepreneurs are looking for something much deeper: clarity, resilience, self-awareness, and the ability to execute under pressure. What makes jurors continue thinking about a startup long after the pitch ends? And why do some founders instantly create confidence while others struggle to stand out? As part of the Inside the Jury Room series, Venture Kick juror Nathaly Bachmann shares the signals she consistently looks for when evaluating founders during high-pressure startup pitches.
 Nathaly Bachmann Founder ESSENCE RELATIONS AG and minus zwei
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Clarity creates confidence
For Nathaly Bachmann, confidence starts with clarity. “Clarity in the presentation and in the problem definition are what immediately build confidence,” she explains.
Strong founders demonstrate that they deeply understand the market they are entering. They know the landscape, the frictions, the customer pain points, and most importantly, why the timing matters now.
“A brilliant idea means little without a receptive market,” says Bachmann. “A solution the market is not ready for yet is not a business.”
In other words, investors are not only evaluating whether a startup solves a problem. They are evaluating whether the market is truly ready to adopt that solution today.
Trust comes from alignment
According to Bachmann, trust is built when three things align: knowing, saying, and doing. Founders who create confidence quickly are usually those who combine expertise with openness. They stay focused on opportunities rather than dwelling on obstacles, and they remain calm and curious when challenged.
“Founders who earn trust fastest do not become defensive,” she explains.
The team itself also matters enormously. Investors observe how founders complement each other, whether they understand their own limitations, and how open they are to learning and dialogue. Because inside the jury room, confidence is rarely created by certainty alone. It is created by self-awareness.
Investors look for the “entrepreneurial gene”
At an early stage, execution potential often matters more than traction itself. For Bachmann, one of the strongest signals is what she calls the “entrepreneurial gene”: a combination of resilience, discipline, and genuine drive.
“The best founders show a real desire to build, not only the capability,” she says.
She often recognizes this mindset in people who have already experienced demanding environments earlier in life, whether through sports, leadership, or other high-performance experiences.
“Someone who competed seriously in sport already knows the mechanism: you fall down 99 times and win once.”
This mentality becomes especially visible when founders face pressure, uncertainty, or limited resources. The strongest entrepreneurs do not use constraints as excuses. They turn them into motivation.
The real challenge starts after the funding
One mistake founders often underestimate is how different entrepreneurship becomes once investors and paying customers are involved. “In the beginning, everything is still exciting and experimental,” Bachmann explains. “But once investors are on board and customers are paying, the obligation to deliver becomes non-negotiable.” Scaling a company requires stamina, discipline, and the ability to handle repetitive and difficult work over long periods of time. That is why jurors pay close attention to how founders behave under pressure during the session itself.
“A leader must demonstrate clear communication and be willing to take full accountability for decisions and their consequences,” she says.
Inside the jury room, investors are not only evaluating today’s pitch. They are evaluating whether this founder can carry the company through the inevitable challenges ahead.
Make people remember one thing
For Bachmann, memorable pitches are not overloaded with information. They are focused, rehearsed, and clear about what should stay in the room afterward.
“Invest in the one sentence that captures the essence of what you are building,” she advises. “That is what people remember after you leave.”
Preparation also plays a major role. Founders should practice repeatedly, expose themselves to feedback from different audiences, and master both the content and the technical setup before entering the session. And when difficult questions come, the best reaction is not defensiveness, but curiosity. “The best founders never give up,” says Bachmann. “But they combine that relentlessness with continuous personal growth.” The founders who stand out most consistently are stubborn on the vision, flexible on the path, and deeply authentic in the way they communicate their ambition.
Because in the end, investors are not only backing an idea. They are backing the person capable of turning it into reality.
Because in the end, investors are not only backing an idea. They are backing the person capable of turning it into reality.