In 2015, 346 startups and small firms from five Western Balkan countries took part in a randomised trial of an investor readiness programme. Half received a two-month mini-accelerator with mentoring and masterclass weekends, the other half an online course. Judges who did not know which group a firm belonged to rated the trained firms 0.3 standard deviations more investment-ready. Two years later, the trained firms were only 5 percentage points more likely to have closed a deal with an outside investor, a difference the researchers could not distinguish from chance (Cusolito, Dautovic and McKenzie, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 8541, 2018).
The trial found an improvement in assessed readiness, while the later difference in investment outcomes remained uncertain. For programme design, it is useful to consider preparation and access to suitable investors together.
For accelerators, business angel networks and public innovation programmes, this means planning beyond the curriculum. This guide connects selection, readiness assessment, targeted support and investor feedback with a clear decision about which companies are ready for meetings. Sooner or later the funder asks the programme manager one question: how many of your founders met an investor who funds their stage and sector?
What an investor readiness programme is
An investor readiness programme prepares founders to raise external equity and then connects them with investors. Research on these programmes separates three reasons why a company is not ready: “equity aversion; investability; and presentational failings” (Mason and Kwok, Local Economy, 2010). Some founders do not want to give up shares. Some businesses do not yet meet what investors require. And some good businesses present themselves badly.
Each problem needs a different answer. A pitch workshop fixes the third and does nothing for the first two. A founder who is uneasy about dilution needs honest information about grants, loans and other forms of finance. A company without traction needs time, not better slides.
Readiness programmes overlap with accelerators, but they are not the same thing. They are often run by public agencies, angel networks or EU programmes, may take no equity and can work with companies at different stages rather than one cohort heading for a single demo day. How accelerators, incubators and venture studios each shape their event calendar is the subject of our comparison of accelerators, incubators and venture studios.
Why training alone does not produce investment
The Balkan trial shows where a programme leaks, and the leak is not in the classroom. Of 584 complete applications, 346 firms were eligible and were randomly split into two groups. Judges from a pool of 66, sitting in panels of five, then scored the 211 firms that pitched at the semi-finals in Belgrade, without knowing who had been trained.
The surprise came from the comparison group. The researchers had expected about 3 per cent of untrained firms to raise outside money within two years. In practice, 24.4 per cent did. As the authors conclude, more firms than expected obtained financing without the programme.
Two lessons follow for anyone designing a programme. First, your intake already contains companies that will raise anyway, so counting all their rounds as programme success claims too much. Second, a real but modest gain in readiness gets thinner at every step between a first meeting and a signed term sheet.
Readiness assessment helps decide which introductions are appropriate and when they should happen.
The stages of a readiness pathway
If readiness alone is not enough, the question is what the rest of the pathway looks like. A model from the research still reads like a good programme plan. Mason and Harrison proposed five elements: “an information seminar; an investment ready review; an investment ready development programme; an investment ready presentation review; and investment networking” (Mason and Harrison, 2001, quoted in Mason and Kwok, 2010). Mason and Kwok add that the journey “needs to be both prescriptive and linear”. Founders who choose their own modules tend to skip the ones they need most.
An investor readiness pathway in six steps
- Call Select on fit and intent Choose companies that plan to raise equity within a year and fit the investors you can actually reach.
- Week 1 Run the readiness review Score every company on one scorecard and write down the two or three gaps that would block a round.
- Weeks 2 to 7 Work on the gaps Mentoring and workshops follow the gaps from the review, not a fixed curriculum for everyone.
- Week 8 Pitch review with investors Investors give feedback on the deck, the financials and the ask before any real meeting.
- Gate Decide who goes forward Score again on the same scorecard; only companies above the threshold enter investor matching.
- Weeks 9 to 12 Match and meet Founders and investors request meetings by stage and sector, and both sides accept before a slot is booked.
The week numbers are a working plan that mirrors the two-month format of the Balkan trial. Longer programmes stretch the development phase, not the gate.
Selection: who gets in
Selection decides more of the outcome than any workshop. Ask in the application whether the company plans to raise equity in the next twelve months, how much and from whom. That one question filters out much of the equity aversion before the programme starts. The interview format, the rubric and how to keep jurors consistent across a long day are covered in our guide to running an accelerator selection day.
Readiness review: one scorecard from day one
Once the cohort is in, every company gets scored, and the scorecard you use here is the one you will use again at the gate. The European Innovation Council (EIC) runs its VentureMatch programme the same way: it starts with a “calibration session and investment-readiness scoring” and later runs “progress reassessments” (EIC VentureMatch programme page, retrieved November 2026).
The weights deserve thought. In the Balkan trial, judges scored five factors and combined them as follows:
How judges weighted the investment readiness score in the Western Balkans trial
Presentation was scored separately and was not part of the overall score.
Recent progress counted for almost a third, and presentation did not count at all. That is a deliberate choice: a polished pitch cannot hide a missing customer. If your scorecard rewards the deck, your programme will produce decks.
Development: follow up on what the review found
The review is only useful if the next six weeks respond to it. Mason and Kwok criticise exactly this point: “there is often no follow-up to the Investment Readiness Review”.
Picture a medtech founder whose review flags one gap: no plan for regulatory approval. If the programme then sends her to three storytelling workshops with everyone else, she leaves with a better story and the same gap. Assign her a regulatory mentor and one milestone instead, and the gate becomes a real check.
Pitch review with investors in the room
Investors make the feedback credible. Summarising an evaluation of UK pilot programmes, Mason and Kwok note that “the involvement of potential investors in delivering the support adds credibility and realism”. They also recommend keeping support formally separate from funding decisions. In practice, an investor who reviews a deck in week eight should declare an interest if the company later requests a meeting with them, or should not sit on the gate panel for that company.
The readiness gate: who goes to the investors
The pitch review shows who is close. The gate decides who is ready. It is the one step most programmes skip, because sending every founder to the investor day feels fairer. It is also the step investors notice most.
A useful gate checks four things:
- Score: the company clears a threshold on the same scorecard used in week one, so progress is visible.
- Materials: a deck, a financial model, a cap table and a data room index are ready to send the day after a meeting.
- A defined ask: the amount, the instrument and the timing of the round are written down.
- Investor fit: your investor pool contains several active investors who fund that stage, sector and ticket size.
Companies that do not pass are not dropped. They move to the next cohort, get office hours, or get pointed to finance that suits them better. The programme manager then has an honest answer for the funder: twelve companies went to investors, and they are the twelve any investor in the pool would expect to see.
A shorter list is a promise investors can check.
The gate works in both directions. Not everyone who registers as an investor is actively investing, which is why we recommend qualifying investors before a meeting marathon with the same rigour you apply to founders.
Bring investors in before the meeting day
A gate only pays off if the investors on the other side are already engaged. Large programmes keep them involved throughout, not only on demo day. The EIC programme reports these figures for its network:
EIC investor readiness support, figures reported by the EIC
That is more than a dozen introductions per supported company. The numbers come from the programme itself and cover several years, so read them as an order of magnitude, not a conversion rate. The point for your design is the volume of introductions behind each funded company.
Investors can play three roles before the meeting phase: reviewer in the pitch review, host of office hours during development, and participant in a closed session that previews the companies passing the gate. Each role gives them an early look and gives founders a realistic picture. For a smaller programme, a half-day format often works better than a full investor day, as described in our guide to curated founder-investor sessions. What investors count as a useful first meeting depends on their own pipeline, explained in our guide to deal flow.
With Converve, you approve every registration, set up separate categories for founders, investors and scouts, and use a rule-based meeting matrix to define who may see and request whom. Only companies that passed your readiness review become visible to investors, both sides confirm each meeting before it is booked, and meetings can run as native 1:1 video calls for international investors. See how this works for startup and investor events.
What to report to the funder
The funder’s question from the beginning comes back at the end of each cohort. Report the steps the programme controls, and treat closed rounds with care, because some of your companies would have raised without you.
- Readiness change: scores at entry and at the gate, on the same scorecard.
- Gate pass rate: how many companies passed, and what the others did next.
- Fitting meetings held: meetings with investors whose stage and sector match the company.
- Second meetings: how many first meetings led to a follow-up within eight weeks.
- Rounds closed: checked after 12 and 24 months, reported as a contribution, not as proof of impact.
The Balkan trial is the warning behind the last line. Without a comparison, a 24 per cent funding rate can look like programme success when it would have happened anyway. How to set up indicators and evidence for a multi-year programme is covered in our guide to reporting to funders.
Conclusion
Plan preparation and investor introductions as one sequence: select companies with a clear funding goal, assess them consistently, work on the gaps and seek investor feedback before arranging meetings. Training can improve readiness, but it does not guarantee investment. Track both the quality of introductions and the outcomes that follow.
Use the readiness review to guide the next step for each company, including further preparation where needed.
If you run an investor readiness programme and want to see how approval, visibility rules and investor matching can be set up, get in touch with Converve.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is investor readiness?
Investor readiness describes whether a company and its founders are prepared to raise external equity. Research names three common gaps: founders who are reluctant to give up shares, businesses that do not yet meet investors’ requirements, and good businesses that present themselves poorly (Mason and Kwok, Local Economy, 2010).
What does an investor readiness programme include?
A typical programme combines selection, a readiness review with a scorecard, targeted mentoring and workshops, a pitch review with investor feedback and, finally, investor matching or a pitching event. The EIC VentureMatch programme, for example, combines readiness scoring, work on decks, financials and data rooms, pitch training and introductions to investors.
How long does an investor readiness programme take?
Formats vary from a few weeks to several months. The programme tested in the Western Balkans trial ran for two months (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 8541, 2018). Researchers Mason and Kwok argue that readiness needs a long-term approach, so many programmes add office hours or follow-up support after the main cohort.
How is investor readiness assessed?
With a scorecard applied by experienced judges or investors. In the Western Balkans trial, the overall score weighted recent business progress at 30 per cent, team at 28 per cent, technology at 21 per cent, traction at 14 per cent and market at 7 per cent, with presentation scored separately. Use the same scorecard at entry and at the gate, so progress is measurable.
Do investor readiness programmes increase investment?
In the best-known trial, they raised readiness, but the effect on deals is harder to prove. In the randomised Western Balkans trial, readiness scores rose by 0.3 standard deviations, while the 5 percentage point increase in deals was not statistically significant, partly because 24.4 per cent of untrained firms raised money anyway (World Bank, 2018). That is why the matching stage matters as much as the training.
What is the difference between an investor readiness programme and an accelerator?
An accelerator usually runs a fixed cohort towards a demo day and often takes equity. An investor readiness programme focuses on preparing companies for a funding round and connecting them with investors. It is often publicly funded, may take no equity and can work with companies at different stages.
