The fundamentals of your investor pitchdeck

I've just received an investor pitch deck that is 40 (yes, FORTY!) slides with dense and complex slides and way too much unnecessary tech content.

The core proposition for this business is great and I get it. But...

If you're doing or thinking of raising then you need to be better than this to succeed with investors. Remember, fund-raising requires a proper strategy and you need to execute a sales & marketing campaign to target your prospects and convert them into investors. Do not be tempted to throw everything into the deck or feel the need that you have to explain everything, especially your tech. Clear & concise investor comms. and messaging are critical - this is a business transaction, not a tech pitch, and your tech, service, product etc., is purely the vehicle that will help your investors get to where they need to be. They need to see that so stick to the business plans.

You need to be answering these fundamentals:

• Market - What problem do you solve/opportunity do you create? How big is it/could it be, and how much of it do you realistically think you can target?
• Team - Why are you the best person/team to be doing this and why now?
• Competition - Who or what could try to stop you and why they won't. What makes you better than everyone else?
• Economics - What is your business model & how do/will you make money? Why & how is this/will this be successful?
• Progress - Where are you right now and what's next? Got customers/clients? Great. MRR/ARR? Even better. What will you spend the money on?
• Close - Why is the investor reading the deck the right one for you & what do you need from them to succeed? Why do they need to act now? CTA!

If you really feel the need to explain what the tech does or how it works then fine but KISS. Remember, your pitch deck is there to create and open up a potential investment opportunity - not to try and explain the whole thing. You can do a deep-dive into the mechanics later when you've got your foot in the door if you need to - smart founders sometimes have two or more decks, but the first one is always there to create the opportunity. You can build a big full deck with all the details to refer to when you get to the meeting - investors love to see a founder who is fully prepped with all the numbers, explanations, diagrams, etc. etc. that you need to answer their questions (this is another whole big area you also need to prep for BTW). One quick tip - avoid using videos in both your decks and your meetings. Every second that an investor spends watching your beautifully crafted animation is another second wasted in persuading them why you are their perfect investment, and discovering why they could be your perfect investor. Save them for customers, clients & partners.

Play around with this by all means to suit your business and circumstances, but in the first instance stick to what your prospective investors need and want to know. There are plenty of resources out there for you to tap into that will help you build your investor deck, proposition and messages but if you want some direct help to get "investor-ready" and find your next investors LMK.

Hope this helps.