First Pitch Meeting Reflections: Lessons, Confidence, and Alignment in Death Care and AR Innovation

Overview

This post reflects on my first investor pitch meeting, an unexpected milestone that, despite not securing funding, proved more valuable than anticipated. It served as a forcing function to organize ideas, prototype rapidly, and align personal and professional goals with my wife’s ambitions in the death care industry. The experience boosted confidence to pursue a three-phase strategy—digital marketing CMS, business management CRM, and experimental property management with AR/geolocation—independently or with new investors.

The Pitch Meeting Experience

• First-Time Context: Historically a CTO/lead engineer, I’ve never pitched directly to investors. This meeting, facilitated by a manager, was my first, with the owner showing lukewarm interest, creating an uphill battle.
• Preparation Challenges: Uncertain scheduling (canceled, rescheduled last-minute) limited prep time. Late Sunday confirmation forced Monday night work, balancing client tasks and family.
• Execution: Despite constraints, I wrote a 1,000–2,000-word high-level plan (initially a prompt for vanilla HTML/JS) and built a near-MVP CMS/CRM prototype in under two hours. Phase three (AR/geolocation/IoT) was described via text and images due to its complexity.
• Outcome: No funding commitment, with the owner likely seeking cheap digital marketing. Yet, engagement persisted—questions on phase three showed curiosity, despite their focus on phase one.

Key Takeaways and Value

• Forcing Function: The tight timeline pushed rapid documentation (plan from prompt) and prototyping (CMS/CRM demos), showcasing my ability to deliver under pressure.
• Alignment with Spouse: The project bridges death care (wife’s field) with my location-based AR vision (e.g., Revenant Hollow, cemetery management). Shared tech—geolocation, image analysis, AI for property tasks—creates synergy for a business empire.
• Confidence Boost: Handled all questions fluently, maintained momentum, and demoed solutions effectively. Realized I can pitch to anyone and don’t need this investor.
• Strategic Clarity: Three-phase plan—CMS for digital marketing, CRM for business management, AR/IoT for property management—is solid. Prototypes validate speed and viability.

Three-Phase Strategy Overview

• Phase 1: Digital Marketing CMS: Custom CMS for death care businesses (e.g., Marshall Memorial Funeral Home), with lead capture, SEO, and social dashboards. Prototype built in ~1 hour.
• Phase 2: Business Management CRM: Tailored for funeral/cemetery operations, handling contracts, obituaries, interment rights. Near-MVP prototype completed.
• Phase 3: Experimental Property Management: Mobile app with GPS grave mapping, AR for maintenance (e.g., uneven marker alerts), autonomous drones/UGVs for surveillance, and robo-mowers. Described via text/images due to hardware complexity.

Post-Meeting Reflections

• Initial Reaction: Felt like a waste, prioritizing clients and family time. Wife’s disappointment echoed mine, but her impatience contrasted my resilience.
• Reevaluation: Reviewing the online demo (shared with attendees) and strategy reaffirmed its strength. I can execute independently, dedicating an hour daily or weekly.
• Future Plans: Leverage wife’s death care network for leads; pitch to out-of-state investors (e.g., California, Texas) with bigger tech appetites. Local skepticism (small-town mindset) won’t deter progress.

Suggestions on How This Content Might Be Useful to Others

• For Entrepreneurs: Insights on turning pitch constraints into rapid prototyping opportunities, boosting confidence even without funding.
• For Developers: Workflow tips for fast CMS/CRM builds using prompts and frameworks (e.g., Next.js), adaptable to niche industries.
• For Death Care Professionals: Vision for integrated CMS/CRM/AR solutions, enhancing efficiency and visitor experience.
• For AR Innovators: Blueprint for aligning geolocation/IoT with real-world applications, from cemeteries to sports complexes.
• For Couples in Business: Inspiration for aligning personal/professional goals across industries, leveraging shared tech for mutual success.

Additional Information Validating Perspective

The rapid prototyping aligns with 2025 startup trends, where MVPs are built in hours using AI-assisted tools (e.g., Cursor, Grok), per TechCrunch’s developer workflow reports. Death care tech is a growing niche, with platforms like Chronicle raising $10M in 2024 for cemetery digitization, validating my phase three focus. My wife’s network mirrors industry trends, as funeral homes seek integrated solutions (Capterra 2025 reviews). Out-of-state investor interest reflects Silicon Valley’s $50B AR market bets by 2028 (Statista 2025). The confidence boost echoes entrepreneurial advice from Y Combinator’s 2025 startup school, emphasizing resilience over initial rejections.

Cleaned-Up Transcript

I had my first pitch meeting yesterday—wild experience, not the main focus but sums it up. Usually, I’m the CTO/lead engineer; someone else pitches. Didn’t realize it was my first until afterward. Went well, though no funding agreement. Confidence is through the roof, despite feeling like a disaster initially.

Objective: Secure financing. Didn’t happen, but more valuable than expected. Forcing function to document, prototype, and organize ideas. Meeting was wishy-washy—owner seemed unmotivated, like doing a favor for the manager. Communications odd; built rapport troubleshooting his site, but he grew distant. Manager pushed; I sensed he wanted cheap digital marketing, not phase two/three.

Limited prep time—canceled, rescheduled late Sunday. Monday crammed with client work; stayed up late. Wrote 1,000–2,000-word plan (started as a Grok prompt for vanilla HTML/JS) and built CMS/CRM prototypes in ~2 hours. Phase three (AR/IoT) described via text/images—too advanced for demo.

Meeting: Engaged despite owner’s focus on phase one. Questions on phase three showed curiosity, not just politeness. Post-meeting, felt I wasted time—could’ve served clients, spent time with son. Wife was more disappointed; I rebounded.

Reviewed demo online—substantial, near-MVP. Realized I don’t need them. Strategy (CMS, CRM, AR/IoT) is solid; can execute solo or pitch elsewhere (wife’s network, out-of-state investors). Local small-town mindset often disappoints, but I’m energized to keep going.

Value: Rapid prototyping, alignment with wife’s death care goals, pitch confidence. Plan: Dedicate time daily/weekly, seek new investors. This could be their “Slack moment”—missed a great opportunity. I’m moving forward.