There are many opinions on creating a pitch deck and presenting to potential investors, but there is still a big gap between what entrepreneurs perceive to be important and what investors really value during a pitch presentation.There are two aspects of your presentation that matter the most:
- The story you tell – How you weave your slides together into a narrative and
- How you present – How you connect with and read your audience.
Here are my top five pieces of advice to deliver a winning presentation:
1. Tell A Narrative, Don’t Just Present Slides
More important than the specific slides you present is how you weave them together to convince and inspire your audience that you are going to build a successful company. I’m not talking about a made up story or crazy theatrics. I’m talking about how you put the facts and data together to sell a vision. When investors understand and believe in you and your vision, it increases the value of what you’re selling.
You want your audience to feel like they’ve heard the vision and evidence, and have come to their own conclusion that this is a winning idea and team.
Your narrative will vary based on your stage, and primarily whether you are pre- or post- product-market fit. Your milestones in these stages are different and thus your pitch will be different. If you are pre-product-market fit, your story will center on the opportunity ahead, and the potential of your business to achieve it, perhaps through a killer product demonstration. If post-product-market fit, the story tends to focus on the results: “look at our traction, traction, traction. Here’s how we’re getting that and what we’re doing next.”
But, your pitch also needs to be tailored to your strengths as a business. It could be built around your team and how you’re a fit for the opportunity ahead. It could be all about your unique insights and take on a problem. It could be a product demo that wows everyone in the room. Or, as in the last example, it could be all about your product-market fit.
2. The First Five Minutes Matter, You Need a Hook
Aaref Hilaly of Sequoia, a re-known entrepreneur, wrote an excellent post on presenting to investors. He explains the importance of capturing attention in the first 3 minutes to earn your chance to go into more detail for the next fifteen minutes. He suggests opening with three slides:
i) Show what’s changed – what’s the shift, breakthrough or innovation that creates an opportunity
ii) Say what you do – one sentence about what you do to capitalize on that change
iii) Give the fast facts – when you founded the company, your stage, number of employees, what you’re looking to raise. This gives context for the rest of the presentation.
You need to capture attention right away – no long preambles or you will lose your audience. These three slides are one way to get to the point quickly. But, whether you use these three slides or in this order, will depend on the narrative you are telling (see #i). Think about what is most compelling about your business and team, and build your hook there.
3) Listen and Respond To Your Audience & Use Both Audio and Visual Clues
The best pitch is a conversation rather than a sales pitch. And, the best presenters have the ability to listen while they’re talking, watch the audience for clues that what they are saying is resonating, and then adjusting if needed. If you are seeing raised eyebrows and questioning looks, take note and clarify what you’re saying. You may need to push or pull back on the points you’re making.
4) Relate Your Story To Your Audience
The best way to convince your audience is to frame the problem or solution in a way that relates to the issues they experience directly. This isn’t always possible, but for most consumer or B2B products, it is.
