Founders: Stop listening to everyone’s advice on how to fix your pitch

Founders, fixing your pitch requires knowing when not to listen to advice. Find out why, improve your deck, and get the results you want.

Founders: Stop listening to everyone’s advice on how to fix your pitch

Naturally, you're eager to get funded. And like many entrepreneurs, you know you only get one chance to make the right impression. So, understandably, you may be tempted to seek advice from industry experts. On the surface, this makes sense. Certainly, you can learn a lot by talking to startup advisers, lawyers, investors, and founders who've raised money in the past.

There's a catch, though. While these advisors are extremely knowledgeable in fundraising, fundraising is one thing and pitching investors using slides is a completely different ball game, requiring a separate set of skills. As a result, founders end up getting feedback on what's wrong with their pitch and on what needs to be improved—without any guidance on how to improve it (how frustrating?!). 

Also, those who guide entrepreneurs on pitching often have differing opinions about what makes a pitch effective. The conflicting advice not only drives entrepreneurs CRAZY, but it also leads to jumbled narratives that are a hodge-podge of different viewpoints.

In my consulting practice, I see these confusing, incoherent decks all the time. I call them "Frankenstein decks" for their ability to scare away investors and leave founders feeling less than confident in their pitch.

So, how can you put your best foot forward and avoid a Frankenstein deck? Build confidence in your pitch by taking these actions: 

1. Research first

Before creating your deck, do an adequate amount of market research (at least 20 hours) and know your market like the back of your hand. Know what the key drivers are for today's market, who the new players are, and gather reputable sources to back up your pitch on the market potential. It's one thing to pitch a "growing market" and another thing to share data that proves your market is growing and why it's growing. This research will help you develop a cohesive story and bring more confidence to your pitch, so you aren't quick to change it. 

2. Focus on answering essential questions 

Remember to focus on answering essential questions about your business, such as: 

What is your business model and go-to-market strategy? How have you gotten traction? Who are your competitors, and why are you better? How are you differentiated? Who are the members of your team, and why are they impressive? What's your use of funds? Put another way, how do you plan to spend your investor's money? Why is this spending strategic?

By answering these essentials, investors can trust you to know how your model works, how to execute, and how to navigate this growing market.

3. Choose your story with care

Talking about your business in a concise, consistent, and compelling way is a challenge—even for many experienced entrepreneurs. Your deck will only build trust with an investor if the language you choose does several jobs all at once, from highlighting all of the business essentials to telling an easy-to-understand, but compelling story, to weaving in research and proof at every corner.

4. Think carefully about the design

When it comes to designing your deck, many first-time founders miss the boat. You'll want to design your presentation with intention, so the content shines and investors find it easy to digest and understand. This may require the help of a professional designer. 

But not just any designer. Even someone who's done high-quality work for you on sales materials may not understand how to build slides. Slides are a completely different animal. So, if you hire a designer, make sure they have experience building decks in PowerPoint or Keynote. Even better, choose someone with experience creating investor decks.

Also, avoid hiring a designer to build your deck in Illustrator. Such decks become unusable because they're hard to update, fix, and change as you go to market for fundraising.

Finally, a streamlined, visually cohesive presentation that results in the funding you desire will be worth much more than what you paid for it.

5. Take feedback with a grain of salt

The solution for avoiding a Frankenstein deck is not to build it by yourself and never show it to anyone. Ultimately, it's still valuable to get feedback from trusted advisors and those who are experienced. However, it's more so that by performing the steps above, you will be better rooted and confident in the research you did, the story you chose, and the deck you put together - and so you'll know what advice to take and what advice to leave behind.

In closing

Remember, investors won't invest unless they feel confident in you. And how you present yourself on slides and pitch yourself in person is vital to gaining their trust. That's why, instead of a Frankenstein deck, you'll want to create a consistent, coherent deck that positions you as a wise investment.

And remember, if you don't have the bandwidth or skill set within your team to pull off the investor-tailored content you need, hire someone. How do you know when you should hire someone? When you've spent 40+ hours on your deck, have listened to everyone's hodge-podge advice, and you still don't feel good about how your deck looks and reads.

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