Why we built PRL—our unique multi-factor investor readiness framework

Copyright, pitchhawk, 2025.

TL; DR

Fundraising is often viewed as a simple “pitch vs. investor” interaction based on the law of averages, but the reality is far more complex. Behind every successful new issue, or sale of shares, lies a rigorous process of evaluation, that considers many moving parts beyond technology and market opportunity.

That evaluation happens on the buy-side. That means it’s objectively undertaken by the investor. And since serious innovation investors see thousands of pitches in a year and only invest in a handful, it makes sense that almost all pitches miss the key investability elements that investors care about the most.

When you dive into the weeds across hundreds of businesses, as we have, you realise that those investability elements can number in the dozens. But it’s not the number of elements that matters. You could readily group many of them into categories that you could count on two hands.

What’s really important is how the key business and investability elements relate to and operate with each other (interoperability) and whether or not they are tuned to a frequency that investors are listening to (signal).

Often, four killer investability factors aligned perfectly and tuned to the right frequency totally trumps 15 marginally important checkboxes that are misaligned and/or tone deaf.

This is why we created the pitchhawk Readiness Level (PRL) ranking system, and the unique PRL rank that you will receive following each Pre-flight.

Today, we wanted to unpack the benefits to you of securing your PRL, and then uplevelling it.

What is PRL?

PRL is a multi-factor approach to evaluating, scoring and ranking your startup, scaleup or innovation business against the ideal investment.

At pitchhawk, we see the ideal investment resembling the ideal fortress—a strong, dependable investment fortress built to rapidly capture territory and to scale, without the constant need to reinvest and while sustainably defending against external threats and risks.

Why a multi-factor approach (MFA)?

Innovation faces challenges at many levels. Some relate to internal execution, like leadership and execution capability, while others stem from external forces like shifting consumer tastes, regulation, legislation, creative disruption, or changing investor appetites driven by macroeconomic and geopolitical forces.

Traditional fundraising advice tends to oversimplify and/or ignore these complexities because more often than not it is tethered to a fundraising service and entitlement to a percentage-based fee. Traditional actors prefer an uncomplicated route to their percentage fee, and as a result are not incentivised to identify weak or missing business elements—preferring to paper over the cracks with carefully worded statements in glossy documents.

Unlike those methods which were designed to get your business “advisor-ready” not “investor-ready”—genuine business fortification and investor readiness is precisely where pitchhawk comes in. And our PRL system is at the heart of it.

PRL addresses the '“genuine readiness” gap by delivering an integrated, consistent, and data-informed view of both business and investor readiness.

We don’t tick boxes and paper over problems. Instead, we examine all key business and investability elements and assess how well they align with each other—and whether they are tuned to the frequency that investors interested in your industry or sector are actually listening to.

PRL allows us to assess whether you are investor-ready—smarter, stronger, and faster than any other method.

Alignment and tuning, the key to the highest PRL

The real power of PRL lies in recognising that business and investability factors don’t exist in isolation. They form an array of interdependent elements and signals.

When they align, your business sends out a strong, clear signal that resonates with investors. This is what “tuning to the correct investor frequency” means.

Only at this intersection will your company achieve a high PRL rank. And the highest PRL means you’re not just prepared, but your investment proposition is finely tuned to attract meaningful capital.

pitchhawk was designed so that you can take a Pre-flight to uplevel your PRL at any time—whether you’re improving on your past score, or moving from to Series A, or are attempting a pivot, or even considering an IPO or a sale.

At each key juncture, before you face investors and capital markets, we’ve got you covered with our Pre-flight and Precision Knowledge Package solutions.

A quick note on the macro

PRL uniquely incorporates macroeconomic insights, like secular trends, monetary/funding climates, and business cycles, alongside the granular details of your business and investment proposition.

This holistic lens helps you contextualise “why now” and prepare you for the actual investor mindset and the realities of capital markets.

Conclusion

Innovation fundraising success depends on far more than just a good idea or a shiny “pitch deck”.

Our Pre-flights and PRL ranking system exist to move beyond that gloss, equipping you with a clear, honest view of your readiness. We reveal the gaps (that other actors want to hide) and offer a clever process and path to strengthen your business fortress before stepping into the investor’s arena.

Book your Pre-flight, grab your PRL and see how close your business is to “fortress strength”.

pitchhawk has you covered!

Mike

Transforming innovations into investable businesses—smarter, stronger, faster 💨

Copyright, pitchhawk, 2025. All rights reserved.