I’d argue that for the majority of founders, they’re both important - knowing someone gets you in the door, but having a compelling pitch and story (with the metrics to back it up, which assumes you’ve done the hard work to build a solid business) is what you need to get to a term sheet. Of course, there are always exceptions - like the extraordinarily well connected founder who’s had a successful prior exit might be able to raise purely on the basis of relationships and reputation.
i've seen many founders in my direct vicinity raise lots of money simply because of who they know or charisma, and with a very short deck with basically just an idea and nothing more. i've also seen other founders who were super nerdy and crazy talented, and wrote a library/toolkit that became very succesful, and who never raised any money despite endless pitch decks and actual revenue and customers. IMHO investors just want to invest in copies of themselves instead of making the right decision and investing in someone smart who they might not relate to or like. finally, if you have relationships and charisma, then most likely you haven't had time to actually build something. those who build don't have time for networking or public speaking.
