Where people go wrong with their pitch decks

Last week, DocSend dropped a big load of statistics about the VC activity over the past half year or so. I did a deep dive into the trends that are starting to show up. Subscribe to TC+ for the full story, but here is the TL;DR:

1. "Why now" is becoming more and more important to investors - why should they part with their cash to invest in you at this exact moment? I’ve written more about ‘why now’ in the context of pitching elsewhere, but it’s interesting to see that surface.?
2. Decks are getting shorter; last year, the average successful deck had 19 slides. Now, the average is 16. Do more with less, get to the point.?
3. Financially, the world is a little bit wobbly right now, so investors want to see decks that show that founders know how to optimize for break-even, then profitability. You can always spend more money if you want to grow faster, but the business basics are getting more important.?
4. Financials overall are getting more scrutiny. There’s a stark change: investors are spending 60% more time on the financials section of a pitch deck compared to a year ago. Get it right.?
5. Investors are getting wary about AI… If you’re going to slap AI/ML on a deck, it had better be because leaning on new technologies gives you a real, measurable advantage for your startup, not because it is the newest, hottest thing.

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Why being both humanizing and hard-hitting is a pitch deck win for BusRight

For my Pitch Deck Teardown series on TechCurnch this week, I took a look at BusRight 's, which it used to raise a $7 million Series A round with a focus on assisting school transportation directors run their networks. While the deck has sensibly pushed its weaker team slide to the back of the deck, it makes too much of a deal about how it converts its customers for my comfort. It feels almost desperate, and you don’t want that. But, it does a brilliant job of humanizing its customers and demonstrating how its product can make a real difference to people. That’s how to get VCs on board!

3 top fundraising tips

I’ve seen a lot of pitch decks over the years, both via my Pict Deck Teardown series on TechCrunch and through my work as a pitch coach. Would it surprise you to learn that I see the same mistakes pop up time and again? I didn’t think it would. Here are those glaring errors which you might not be able to see when you’re in the depths of pulling together data and making design choices, but to an outsider stick out like a sore thumb.

1. The most common pitch deck mistakes: There’s a host of common mistakes that I encounter in pitch decks. In this article, I set out each one and explain why it’s a problem and what you can do about it. And having seen so many decks, I can point you in the direction of examples that get it right and decks that don’t do it so well.
2. Closing well: First impressions count, but so do last impressions. Every slide in your deck has to serve a purpose. The slide where you finish is the one that VCs will see for the longest period of time and will therefore be burned into their memories. It’s too valuable an opportunity to waste so you need to make your closing slide count.
3. Appendices: Having a stash of slides that you can use to help you answer questions, illustrate points of interest more carefully, or reinforce something you raise in your main pitch is highly valuable. That’s why no deck should be without an appendix. You might not use all the slides you put in it. You might not use it all. But it’s all about being prepared.?

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