Pitching 2: Pitch Decks Demystified

Creating an ineffective pitch is the easiest thing in the world to do! Slide decks have a way of gaining a life of their own and running away from you. I've spent many an hours trying to reign them back in and keep them in line. It can take you to the verge of tears, or tempt you to harbour angry feelings towards your laptop. Either way, if you've put together a pitch deck and found it easy, I would be worried for you. Creating a succinct clear message is hard on the best of us.

Fear not. Years of teaching and speaking in public have taught me a few things. Here's another advice piece so your path to a great pitch will be slightly shorter than mine. Go get yourself a drink because you are about to learn about pitch buckets.

What are Pitch Buckets?

Starting from the raison d'être of the pitch (dissected in Pitching 1: Pre-pitch Prep):

A pitch is a story you tell investors to convince them to give you money, so you can make them (and yourself) a lot more money

we deduce that it has to answer five fundamental questions. I call these buckets because every slide you have has to fit in one of these five fundamental buckets.

The five fundamental questions/buckets each pitch has to answer in the form of a story are:

Bucket 1: Who are We?

Bucket 2: What are we making?

Bucket 3: Why are we making it?

Bucket 4: How much money do we need and why?

Bucket 5: How much money will we make and how?

I organise my presentation into sections in powerpoint based on these buckets. Then I move each slide to the bucket it belongs. A bucket might have only one slide. Another might have many. If you love a slide but it won't fit into any of these buckets, then it belongs on your wall not in your deck.

Although every product is different, there is one rule here: Each bucket should contain enough information to satisfy a takeaway that will influence the investors' decision.

Repeat after me: I won't put information in my pitch unless it serves a purpose in the investors' minds. Not what the template you downloaded tells you. Not what the person on YouTube tells you. Only what you believe will change the investors mind. That is how you take communication to the influence level.

To summarise, we have five buckets. Each bucket has a single simple takeaway. After you finish putting slides in a bucket, ask yourself: will these slides achieve the single simple takeaway? (seriously, write that on a post it and stick it on your screen).

Remember what we discussed about Clarity and Data in Pre-Pitch Prep? Now let's go sort your slides into the five buckets:

1. Who are We?

Start with YOU.

This might be an obvious point, but somehow it is not. Young entrepreneurs are so eager to get to their idea and their data that they forgo talking about themselves first. The greatest idea in the world is mere words in the air until these words are spoken by a person who can make them a reality. You are not just a story-teller. You are the main character. Your knowledge, your background, your expertise, your ambition and your confidence are a necessary pre-requisite to make this plot happen. After all, your audience is not only investing in an idea, they are also investing in you.

Your audience is not only investing in an idea, they are also investing in you

So I would say, start with You. And by you I mean you/ye the founders, or the CEO who joined sometime later. The slide that talks about the team is often pushed further down the pitch, but it is my personal preference to know who is talking first. Don't crowd it with everyone involved in the project. The purpose of this bucket is to instil confidence not to be comprehensive.

And if you have qualms about talking about yourself (i.e. if you are Irish) then I suggest you find a way to get over them for the higher purpose of making a more convincing pitch. You are not boasting. You are providing a sheen of credibility to everything you will tell them next. Start with You.

/Who Are We/ Investor Takeaway: Be impressed with you/persons involved. Trust the source of what you will say next.

2. What we are making?

Most common mistake I see is enterpreneurs whizzing through the description of the product because there is so much to get through. You might be so familiar with what the product is, but the listeners aren't. If you skimp on description you'll risk mis-understandings later on. And this is the easiest misunderstanding to avoid.

Very simply, take time to describe your product or service, what it is and how it works. Then as succinctly as possible, describe the innovation in it. This is tricky because not every tech or science involved in a product is your innovation. And sometimes it's not a tech at all (Ugh the insanity!)

This might seem like it should go without saying, but I have sat through many a pitches where the product appeared complicated and my mind was grappling with what exactly it does a few slides down instead of actually focusing on the info presented.

After you have helped your audience imagine your product and understand its innovation, there is an opportunity to talk about the science/tech behind it if that is applicable. Be succinct. If you are an engineer/scientist it is easy to get carried away here. I myself spent way too much time describing the innovative science behind a medical device instead of describing how it actually works and in what context. It was a time when I thought everyone else thought like a scientist and needed that level of detail (thankfully they don't).

Remember, it's not about being more business-y than science-y, it's about communicating the relevant information

And please, keep references from the 70's to 'That 70's Show'. When I see old references I immediately think: is this so dated that you have to dig data from the grave to support it?

A picture is worth a thousand words here. If it's an app get screenshots even if you have to draw them by hand. If it's a molecule get a graphic designer to draw a representation that visually clarifies what it does. If it's a medical device get same to do a good rendering of it or fashion a printed prototype. If you can't visually represent it, sing it, dance it, mime! Anything that allows non-experts to truly understand your product. Remember, your audience may be brilliant experts at something, but not necessarily in the field of your product.

This is the foundation of your pitch. After you start working on a product, it might change dramatically. But today, and for the purpose of procuring investment, you need to have clarity on what your product is and does. If you are finding this part challenging, then park right here until you get it right. Investors can smell confusion from miles away. You might not get the money solely because you are clear, but you will definitely hurt your chances if you're not.

/What We Are Making/ Investor Takeaway: The Nod of Understanding. You want them to be able to imagine/know the product/service and go Ahhh (in their minds).

3. Why are we making it?

Get ready for the big bucket!

Most of us start with a tunnel vision of why. Cure cancer. Disrupt a conventional way of doing things. Make money. But the WHY encompasses so much more.

In the WHY bucket goes defining our customers/market. You might think this is an obvious question. Yet it blew my mind the first time I realised that patients are not the customers of therapies. When I pitched for a medical device I talked about the number of patients and what they go through, only! Yet, they're not the decision makers in buying their own therapy. They don't go to a store and ask for a drug or medical device. Is it the physician? Maybe, but they can only prescribe what is approved and reimbursable. Think about your own product in the same way. Who will be buying your product and what data do you have to show that they will and how much of it will they buy.

Your WHY has to include why you think your customer needs/wants it. In that case knowing exactly who your customer is makes a big difference.

In the WHY you drop your competition slide(s). Yes, of course. Don't throw that competition slide down to the end of the pitch. Part of why you need to make your product is either a gap in the competition offering, or as I argued myself recently, that there is so much competition emerging that which proves we are playing in a hot field. Who are your competitors and what are they doing? How much funding are they getting? How will you be different/same? Why will your product stand up to theirs? Does the market have appetite for more?

And obviously in the WHY we have to clarify our motivation to make it. This may include your personal background. Maybe you're a scientist who wants to move their research into applicability. It might be a pain point you have experienced as you yourself worked in the business. It might be environmental and/or social impact (actually I highly recommend trying to include such impacts in your pitch regardless) And let's not forget, it might not be a gap in the market or a pain point at all, but an opportunity. To clarify, motivation is the why your product needs to be made, NOT why it will make money. That part comes later.

/Why We Are Making It/ Investor Takeaway: Your investors need to be convinced that this is a good idea and there is market applicability and need/desire. Maybe not convinced to invest yet because we have not discussed money. Just convinced that in principle yeah, they get it. They understand what you are proposing and why, and yeah, it's a good idea.

HALFWAY POINT. Now we talk about money!

Sanity check. If you have already lost them here by making grandiose unsubstantiated claims (trust issues) or not being clear/not having sufficient data to back your claims (confusion) then frankly there's no point in moving on to talk about the money is there, no matter how many €€ signs you cram into your slides. So...take a minute to check where you are at this point.

4. How much money do we need and why?

Now this is a big bucket!

It's not just about a number with $$$, this is about how you got to this number. Whether you are just starting or have a couple of years of product development behind you, showing that you have put a lot of thought and research into understanding your path from idea to market and how much money you will need will make you more trustworthy. Don't worry if so much of it still needs to be figured out, that is to be expected. This can be aspirational, but it cannot be fictional.

So, the most effective visual in this part, a visual you can use as a stepping stone to many other slides, is a line with bubbles. Your product development timeline, with milestones. Hire this much staff, design this silicon chip, complete first in human trial, freeze design, get CE mark, launch date, etc...Big companies hire people specifically to break projects down this way. But unless your best friend is a project manager with time, you can't afford this for years to come. So, your team and you have a lot of work to do.

To get to this line you have to understand your product development (obviously) from a technical perspective. But that's not all. The technical development and its iteration is a group of milestones. The quality and regulatory requirements for your product is another group. Industry certifications, FDA approval, CE mark, clinical trials after you finish developing the product, manufacturing prototypes and scaling up, hiring one group of resources after the other (cyber security, regulatory experts, marketing, etc...) is part of it as well.

When you do all the research you end up with one line listing the next few years and a few big red bubbles. So much work for so little lines. But that line, and how you explain it, will lead to the amount of money you are asking them for. And that is huge.

A note about the importance of where you place your bubbles. The value of your company grows with every milestone you achieve. Your company value might double when your IP application is granted in the USA, or release your fist prototype, or finish an animal trial. That is why it is so important to show off these milestones. There is big money placed on where that bubble sits on the timeline.

If you are very early on, you need to make educated estimates. If you have not made an accountant your friend yet, it's time to make new friends. (I'm trying to convince my daughter to become an accountant. You should too!). Investors know accuracy is a big ask here. Because these guys, they have been building and selling companies for years. There is no way you know more than they know how much it takes (ask for too little or too much and they will know it before you finish your interpretive dance). But they want to see your work, your analysis, your research to get to this number. In their minds they are calculating what you missed. And also they are calculating your business acumen. Do your best and if they deem you worthy they will do the rest.

Investors have been building and selling companies for years. There is no way you know more than they do how much the 'Ask' should be. But they want to see your work, your analysis, your research to get to this number

To summarise, in this bucket goes your product development slides, your resources, suppliers, challenges, and all foreseen expenses to get to a specific milestone you are asking them to fund. You throw all of these in the bucket. Close the lid tightly. Flip it and swirl it and shake it hard. When it settles down and it's safe to crack the lid open, you should see a miracle: the verb 'ask' has turned into a noun!

/How much Money do we need and Why/ Investor Takeaway: 'The Ask'! A number with a €, $, ￡ you are asking them to invest in you. But not just the Ask, a strong impression that you put real effort to get to this number.

5. How much money will we make and how?

In this bucket goes all the slides related to how you will make profit after you launch, and how much you think you'll make. The commercial potential. You will make lots and lots of claims here as you are speaking in the further future, after launch, so you will need lots and lots of good data to base your claims on. Also, it would be best to rely on some professional services here, but if you can't afford it yet do what you can.

Market: Remember how you defined your customer? Now quantify that and slap a € sign on it. How big and small is your market. If you are developing a therapy for migraine your total market may be as big as everyone who has migraine, but in reality, and maybe initially, it is as specific as everyone who has been suffering from chronic migraines and have not been helped by pharmaceutical drugs for five years. Much smaller segment and a lot less money to be made, but realistic.

Every pitch investors listen to has a market in the millions or even billions. Every Single One. Choose numbers because they strongly make a case for your claims, not just because they are big numbers.

Choose numbers because they strongly make a case for your claims, not just because they are big numbers

How will money be made: This is where your 'Route To Market Strategy' goes, how will you sell in today's complex market. Here also goes your 'Revenue Strategy'. Will you make money the old fashioned way or the Facebook way? How are you similar/different to others in your realm? You might discuss the 'exit' here as well. Meaning instead of growing into a global giant organically, you anticipate to be acquired by a larger company for your novel tech (show a slide with recent acquisitions), or go to IPO, or take the Freeway exit to a beach town and stop to yell at the sea. Lots of options here depending on what you are making.

Time to ROI: Now, don't forget the time element here. As discussed previously in Pre-pitch Prep the return on investment (ROI) is not just a number for investors. It is also time. They need to make a ROI in a certain number of years depending on when they are in their fund. So you need to extrapolate how long it will take you to gain market share. You might get 10% in the first year then 20% as you build up sales and reputation and so on. Don't custom design your profit timeline based on the investors. Find your balance between reality and aspiration.

Competition: I know you discussed it in another bucket, but is there a need to show how you will wrangle market share out of those inferior competitors?

So, big bucket with lots of $€￡ and graphs and every product and its market will require different data and information. But at the end, at the very end, the trained eye of the investor is only looking for one takeaway here.

/How Much Money will we make and how/ Investor Takeaway: Return on Investment. How much money do we anticipate making and how long will it take us after launch.

There you have it folks!

Simple as a chocolate ganache mousse cream cheesecake with a cherry on top! And although making a cake requires ingredients and following steps in a time wise fashion, a pitch deck has ingredients but you do your story in whatever way that works for you. You might start with the How Much Money We Will Make bucket and end with the YOU bucket.

If you already have a pitch give it a second look and see if you can fit all your slides in the buckets above. I like organising and grouping ideas, but if you don't like the buckets and your story takes a different path then that is absolutely OK. The important thing is to use the tool of story-telling to convince, be clear, and be real. And always try to put yourself in the investor's shoes and what they need to hear, not just what you would like to say.

And before we move on, a couple of reminders of what you already know:

• The deck is not the main character in this story. YOU and your product are the main characters. Your story can be told with and without slides. The slides are a parting gift you give to potential investors to remind them of the great times you've had during the live pitch. They are a prop. Don't turn them into a distracting side show.
• The pitch is only the hook, if they like you they will bring on more experts to dig into the details. You can't possible put in every single convincing fact and graph in a tiny number of slides. Distill to Hook. There's time to dig in later.

Are we done? Far from it. Your deck is still a mere infant with potential. At some point you have to stop working on it and get out there. Start by inflicting your nascent pitch on your friends and neighbours and family and anyone who will listen. In the next article, Pitching 3: Failure and Feedback, we will talk about how to get the most out of feedback so you can allow your pitch to evolve, and not personally fall into pieces in the process!

Till then, stand tall. You are courageous no matter how far you are from the imagined goal, because you are growing on the path you have chosen.

Good Luck