What matters most in your pitch deck?

Pitch decks don’t raise money. Founders do. But in this day and age, a pitch deck is expected -- it supplements your elevator pitch and introductions made by others. It’s the tangible document that lets investors know that you’ve thought critically about your business. 

So, what should you include in your pitch deck? Think “less but better”. My work with startups most often entails taking several giant steps back and stripping their decks down to the most important information. It’s easy to over-explain and includes as much information as possible in your deck. However, startups that include too much information risk losing their audience. 

I interviewed several respectable investors who invest from seed to Series C to gather their thoughts on the most important elements to include. Their responses can be bucketed across four themes: 

Most names and firms have been left off to respect investors’ privacy

Theme #1: Investors want to know why you’re the right Founder and Team to solve this problem.

As mentioned, pitch decks don’t raise money -- founders do. It’s important to include, a strong team slide in your deck. Why does your background position you as uniquely capable of solving this problem? It’s also recommended to include yourself last in your pitch -- it’s a humble approach when telling your story. 

“Early stage investments are really a bet on the founder., I expect early stage companies to pivot many times, so it’s most important to figure out the strength of the founder. This is best achieved assessing the quality of their work output over time, but the thought put into the pitch deck can help give you a clue.” —Eric Feldman, Founder, Bolt and Eco; Investor

“I need to see that they are solving a definitive problem or pain point with an unfair distribution advantage. The founder must exhibit crystal clear thinking. Painting a trajectory so vivid you feel compelled to join the fight.” —AJ Scaramucci, Co-Chairman, SALT

“I look for the background of the CEO, and why he/she is super relevant to the business; why they would will kill it. This is the secret sauce. Also info on the rest of the management team to ensure tech and ops can be addressed.” —Mark Goldstein, Partner, Builders VC

"What matters most in a startup pitch deck is the three legged stool: 1) how interesting is the concept, 2) the people, and 3) the financial structure. I need to see that the founder has found the secret that they are planning to solve, that they are the right person to explore that secret and why, and that they have aligned their capital structure to go after that secret. It’s like a multiplication — if any of these three elements don’t exist, it equals zero." —Managing Partner, Bastiat Partners

Theme #2: Investors need to clearly see large market potential.

Market matters. In your deck and pitch, you’ll want to have well-thought-out answers to questions like: Who are the customers? How big is the market? How are you going to acquire customers? What customers have you already acquired? The market doesn’t actually need to already exist. In fact, social networking, e-commerce, and personal computing were largely non-existent markets at the time of Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft’s founding. These iconic companies created new markets. If your market doesn’t yet exist, you should have a convincing narrative as to why it will as a result of your business.

“Depends on the stage. In general though, I want to see large market opportunity with a convincing plan to tackle it.”

Theme #3: Investors want you to be as data-driven as possible. 

There’s truth in the numbers. Where do you project your business will be in 1, 3, and 5 years down the road? What’s the current market look like? Is there data that conveys your competitive differentiation? You can’t improve what you don’t measure — so be sure to back your ideas with strong, compelling data.

“I mainly look for companies to be as data driven as possible in presenting forecasts, market size, and user research. If they are on top of their numbers in their pitch deck, it usually bodes well for how they are tracking the metrics in the operations of their business.” —Managing Partner, Electric Capital

Theme #4: Investors want a compelling story.

Your pitch deck shouldn’t look like bits of information pieced together at random. It should clearly convey your story. Numbers matter, but it’s the narrative behind the numbers that draws people in and gets them sharing your story. 

“I want to see the founder(s) have a deep understanding of their market and product, and can take that complexity and form it into a clear and compelling story of why they will win.”

“I look for the clarity in the message and why the target customer is going to buy.” —Mark Goldstein, Partner, Builders VC 

Writing a clear and compelling story for your startup can be challenging. It may make sense in your head, but how does it sound to people who are hearing about your company for the first time? Can investors look at your pitch deck and easily understand the problem, your solution, the market potential, and your potential trajectory.? Or is your pitch deck chock full of assumptions, excess information, and details that won’t be remembered in 5 minutes later?

To recap: 1) Know why you and your team are the right people to solve the problem you’re trying to solve, 2) deeply understand your market (or if creating a new market, have a convincing narrative to support your case), 3) be as data-driven as possible, and 4) have a compelling story.

When in doubt, I hope you can use this as a checklist to refer back to when creating and sharpening your pitch.

Getting ready to fundraise or hire? Shoot me an email at design@sydneyfulkerson.com to explore what it could look like to sharpen your story and polish your pitch.

Thanks for having the courage to build something new!