by John Auckland, TribeFirst
There are lots of different opinions on what makes a good deck, much of it misguided and rooted in opinion rather than data. There are also a number of bad industry habits that are endemic and often harmful to the investment process. This article takes my experience of successfully funding around 50 companies and combines this knowledge with research completed by DocSend to find the perfect formula for an engaging, compelling and ultimately easy to digest deck.
The first misconception is that you should have just one deck. This is of course illogical. You engage with investors in a number of different ways, and your pitch decks needs to reflect this. As a bare minimum you should prepare three different documents before you start reaching out to investors:
I’ve created a handy flow diagram that shows how and when these different documents are used. Trust me, if you utilize these documents as they were meant to be used, and if you optimize them for that specific use, it will increase your investor engagement levels. I’ve been told that this approach slows the process down. That’s only true if you try to omit key information from the Exec Summary, or you present your pitch in the wrong order, or rush through it without focusing on the detail.
Flow diagram that shows how and when these different documents are used
It’s important that you get the Investor Deck in the right order. You may also find it easier to put your Presentation Deck in the same order as well, but it’s not essential. And rather than employing guesswork, you can build your deck around a DocSend/Harvard Business School study into 200 startups that completed their Seed or Series A rounds. This study tracked the effectiveness of these 200 decks, and arrived at the following as an optimized order in which to put your slides:
Most of the advice out there focuses on the rational decision-making center in an investor’s brain. However, investors are people, and the final decision as to whether they should invest is ultimately an emotional one. People relate to stories and narratives. These create empathy and build relationships, triggering all sorts of emotions as the investor imagines being in your shoes. Stories have structure – they have a beginning, a middle and an end. They have dramatic moments, and interesting but relatable side anecdotes. They provide so much more flavor and texture to your pitch, which helps the investor form an opinion about you.
Your pitch documents are essentially marketing materials, and even experienced marketers make the mistake of talking from their perspective rather than the customer’s (for clarity, in your case the customer is an investor). Copywriters that get paid the big bucks have spent years refining this skill and still often get it wrong, so it’s not an easy task. However, there are some tips to help you deploy more empathy in your writing.
Finally, do your research on the investor you’re meeting with and personalize your materials accordingly. It’s amazing how much you can find out from LinkedIn. If they seem like the type who invests more on a gut feeling, then put your team slides and backstory at the start. If they come across as more analytical, or are known for having a scoring system for appraising new investment opportunities, focus more on the numbers, statistics and evidence. It’s a simple thing, but even putting their name on the front cover can have a profound effect.
If you follow these five steps, as the fifty or so companies we’ve helped fund did, then your chances of successfully finding an investor will increase. Good luck!
John Auckland is a crowdfunding specialist and founder of TribeFirst, a global crowdfunding communications agency that has helped raise in excess of £14.5m for over 50 companies on platforms such as Crowdcube, Seedrs, Indiegogo and Kickstarter – with a greater than 90% success rate.
TribeFirst is the world’s first dedicated marketing communications agency to support equity crowdfunding campaigns and the first in the UK to provide PR and Marketing campaigns on a mainly risk/reward basis. John is also Virgin StartUp’s crowdfunding trainer and consultant, helping them to run branded workshops, webinars and programs on crowdfunding. John is passionate about working with start-ups and sees crowdfunding as more than just raising funds; it’s an opportunity to build a loyal tribe of lifelong customers.
Filed Under: Guest Posts Tagged as: Guest Post, John Auckland, Pitch Deck, Presentations
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