I have built pitch decks that have gone on to raise over £60,000,000 for A-list celebrities, elite athletes and world-class founders.
The overall thought from designing hundreds of decks and reading thousands more is that the stars always shine through. That is not an accident. It is a smart and concise approach to document creation.
Any investor is in a default NO position. It is the job of the investment deck to convince them to have a call with you.
Context: yours is not the only deck
Any investor worth your time will be reading at least 10 decks per week. Your document is not the only one they will read. I do often think, "wow, if this was the only deck I read today I would enjoy this", but ultimately it's not, so be mindful of that.
Also be mindful of gatekeepers. They have a warped way of evaluating projects. Your job here is to get past the first gate and create something that can be shared around and is generally "understood". We aren't writing a research paper for a top university.
Design, team and length
Design. This is not a product document. Keep it light. Lots of empty space, big words, no more than one picture per page. Ideally 12 pages. The most important aspect is to get your brand across. If you can't design a simple deck, what chance do you stand selling a product in a crowded market?
Team. The most important slide in any deck, so don't put it at the back. Question one in any human interaction is "hello, who are you?"
This is the biggest job interview of your life. You are asking someone to buy into your company, so frame it like this and show why you and your KEY people are important. I personally hate advisors unless you can demonstrate their value, bringing either investment or revenue. For example, if you send me a drinks brand deck and the head of new product lines at a major supermarket chain is your advisor, but you're not stocked in that supermarket... This is very common.
Length. My most common feedback is "I was hoping this deck ended sooner than it did". You have 30 meetings and a long due diligence process to prove your detail and expertise. Keep it snappy, 10 to 12 pages. If you are going longer than this, you need to question why it's taking so many slides for the reader to GET IT. They should get it after three slides, max.
Assumed knowledge and owning your truth
Assumed knowledge. The killer for any deck. I get it, you know how a particle collider works, or ESG, or payment rails. The reader does not. Explain it like I'm five, and get to the point. If you need to use big words or industry jargon, at least give a reference point for the terms. The vast majority of investors are generalists.
Own your truth. A lot of people spend too long skirting round the facts. If you have £0 revenue, please write this down; it provides context to the business proposal. If you are forecasting for 2022, let the reader know what is year to date and what is an assumption. If I can't find it, I won't look, and I'll move on.