Pitch vs. Pitch Deck
When my Co-Founder and I started out on our journey to seek investment we thought that we absolutely needed a kick ass pitch deck. For awhile I felt like building this deck was my full time job and really it was. While my partner in crime definitely helped out a lot he needed to be coding so I had to make it happen.
The funny thing is outside of showing it to our friends and family and lawyers we never really showed it to anyone. I mean in our first ever real pitch we got a couple printed and bound but pretty sure that wasn’t even necessary. We’ve emailed the deck as well which I’d say is a very bad idea unless it’s post meeting.
What I’m really getting at here is this, worry less about the deck in the early stages and hone your pitch. The 30 second elevator pitch and some solid use cases are going to be most important. Make sure you can explain the problem you’re solving and why your solution is so great.
Also, do a thorough competitive analysis and you better have a competitive advantage or why compete. If you see one competitor there’s likely three and if you see three there’s likely nine and so on. You better be doing something unique to create separation.
Now don’t get me wrong, building a great deck will really help you do the verbal pitch. Just don’t be surprised when you talk to an investor and they couldn’t really care whether you have a deck or not. In under five minutes, if you get that far, a smart investor will already have a good sense if this is something they’d buy into or not.
To sum it up, you really need to know your shit (market, competition etc.) and be confident. If you’re not sold yourself, and are gung-ho, why should anyone else be. Build the deck for good practice and it will only make the rest of your pitch stronger. Just keep pitching, just keep pitching…
