Before investors meet founders, they’ll usually meet their PPT Pkills — otherwise known as a pitch deck. Getting the content, format and delivery right isn’t easy, but it’s important.
Although there are fears that the coronavirus pandemic has prompted a funding freeze, many investors say they are still broadly open to good opportunities — especially at seed round. Here are the 5 Do's & Dont's when Pitching to Investors
DO'S
Do include this wording at the bottom left of the pitch deck cover page: “Confidential and Proprietary. Copyright (c) by [Name of Company]. All Rights Reserved.”
Do convince the viewer of why the market opportunity is large.
Do include visually interesting graphics and images.
Do send the pitch deck in a PDF format to prospective investors in advance of a meeting. Don’t force the investor to get it from Google Docs, Dropbox, or some other online service, as you are just putting up a barrier to the investor actually reading it.
Do plan to have a demo of your product as part of the in-person presentation.
Do tell a compelling, memorable, and interesting story that shows your passion for the business.
Do show that you have more than just an idea, and that you have gotten early traction on developing the product, getting customers, or signing up partners.
Do have a soundbite for investors to remember you by.
Do use a consistent font size, color, and header title style throughout the slides.
Do Review other Pitch Deck Examples.
DONT'S
Don’t make the pitch deck more than 15-20 slides long (investors have limited attention spans). If you feel you need to add more information, include it as an appendix.
Don’t have too many wordy slides.
Don’t provide excessive financial details, as that can be provided in a follow-up.
Don’t try to cover everything in the pitch deck. Your in-person presentation will give you an opportunity to add and highlight key information.
Don’t use a lot of jargon or acronyms that the investor may not immediately understand.
Don’t underestimate or belittle the competition.
Don’t have your pitch deck look out of date. You don’t want a date on the cover page that is several months old (that is why I avoid putting a date on the cover page at all). And you don’t want information or metrics in the deck about your business that look stale or outdated.
Don’t have a poor layout, bad graphics, or a low-quality “look and feel.” Think about hiring a graphic designer to give your pitch desk a more professional look.
Content Credit: Forbes.com
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