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    Avoiding Common Pitch Deck Mistakes

    May 5, 2022

    2min read  Creating your pitch deck is an important part of raising funding for your startup. While you may think that you have covered all of your basis there is still always room for improvement. Read below to see if you have made any of these common mistakes.  Mistakes to Avoid Putting the right pitch deck together takes time and practice. It’s not something individuals often get correct on the first try. In developing a pitch deck, there are several mistakes that you can avoid. One of the most common mistakes is explaining how the product or technology works in great detail, but this isn’t necessary. Instead, use the pitch deck to focus on its benefits and what the product does for customers. Save the detailed explanations for later on in the process when you are in diligence. Some other common mistakes to watch out for are as follows: Not identifying the competition or claims there is no competition. Utilizing a font so small that no one beyond the first row can read it. Using too many words; overuse words can distract the reader. The flow of the slides does not follow a logical story form. Displaying market sizing to distract the audience from the fact that you have no traction. Not having an “investment ask” at the end of the presentation, leaves investors wondering what you want from them. The pitch deck should focus on your: Core product Team Customer Fundraise You can flesh out the more extensive details later. Finally, the biggest mistake you can make with your pitch is not asking questions and not listening. Most startups spend their time talking when they should be listening for objections and concerns. Pay attention and welcome questions from your potential investors. What Your Pitch Deck Should Do A pitch deck is a brief presentation that provides your audience with an overview of your business. Ideally, the deck should answer any questions an investor might have. The primary goal of the pitch deck is to introduce your deal to an investor. Additionally, the pitch deck should serve as a way to show what is essential to an investor who may be considering an investment in your startup. A pitch deck is not a means to explain the full history of your company. It is also not a means to explain how your product works. Tips for Pitch Deck Success After you’ve made your pitch, be sure to schedule a follow-up meeting with the investor. Good pitch decks show: What you are doing differently within your given sector. How you can grow more with funding. An ideal pitch deck showcases that the business’s proposed outcome will happen with or without the investor. In other words, your pitch deck should show that your future is inevitable. Ideally, you want to use your pitch deck to show potential investors that the results are there. Put those results up for everyone to see and show them what you have accomplished so far. The slides of your deck serve as the presenter, not the other way around. When pitching, avoid discussing multiple scenarios. Investors will find it challenging to keep track of what you’re trying to accomplish. Most importantly, focus on the core message: Product Team Market Fundraise Outcome Remember: You are the presentation; the slides are the presenter.   Read more on the TEN Capital eGuide: The Art of Pitching Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network. TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group

    Presenting Your Pitch Deck

    March 3, 2022

    2 min read Congratulations: You’ve landed a meeting with a prospective investor. It’s now time to prepare for your first meeting where you’ll present your pitch deck and hopefully convince the investor your startup is worth a gamble. To do this successfully, you’ll need to know what investors are looking for and how to prepare a solid pitch deck presentation. Continue reading below to learn more about how to do just this. What Investors Want One of the most important things to understand as an early-stage startup is this: The investor doesn’t care about the side of revenue. What they do care about is the predictability of the revenue. Investors look for systems in startups regardless of the size of the company.  As a startup, ask yourself:  Do you have a process for finding customers?  Does that process introduce them to your product?  Does that process also include closing? If you have a sale funnel, it is helpful to share that with the investors. This is key because the investor can then see the traction you have in your sales prospecting process. Use the funnel in multiple investor updates to show how prospects are moving through it.  Purpose of the Pitch Deck A pitch deck is a brief presentation that provides your audience with an overview of your business. Ideally, the deck should answer any questions an investor might have. The basic goal of the pitch deck is to introduce your deal to an investor. Additionally, the pitch deck should also serve as a way to show exactly what is essential to an investor who may be considering an investment in your startup. Tips for Pitch Deck Success An ideal pitch showcases the proposed outcome of the business is going to happen with or without the investor. In other words, your pitch deck should show that the outcome is inevitable. Ideally, you want to use your pitch deck to show the potential investors that the results are there. Put those results up for everyone to see and show, what you have accomplished so far. The slides of your deck serve as the presenter, not the other way around.  When pitching, avoid discussing multiple scenarios. Investors will find it difficult to keep track of what you’re trying to accomplish.  Most importantly. focus on the core message.    Read more on the TEN Capital Guide: Presenting Your Pitch Deck Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network. TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group

    Tips For Using Your Financial Model

    December 22, 2021

    2 min read Financial models contain numerical data about the past, present, and future of your business. This information can be used to make business decisions, analyze the financial health of the company, and can also be presented to potential investors. In this article, we provide tips for using your financial model. Using Your Financial Model in Your Pitch The financial model is a key component of your pitch. You should be using key financial numbers from the model to tell the story of how your business can scale up. To do this, start with your unit economics to show the business works. Show how the systems you have built drive the business using the financial model. Highlight the market size and how fast the market is growing as well as how you will go to market if you are in the early stage. Call out key cost figures to demonstrate you know the numbers that drive your customer acquisition process and retention rates. Show how you will use the funds by pointing to the costs for building products, generating leads, or closing sales. Show your cash burn and how the fundraise will give you runway. The financial projections alone don’t tell the story of your business. You have to pull out key numbers to tell the story. Using Your Financial Model in Your Pitch Deck Many founders cut and paste cells from the financial model spreadsheet into a slide. This renders the information unreadable as the spreadsheet doesn’t fit with the presentation format. To show your financial projections, consider the following: Don’t cut and paste from the spreadsheet. Investors cannot take in a detailed spreadsheet on a slide, only the high-level information. Instead, choose specific numbers from your financial model and place them into the slide using the same font and format as the rest of the deck. Choose three sets of numbers: Revenue, costs, and profits. For these categories, show last year, this year, and projections for the next three years. This provides a five-year window into the company. For each of the three categories, create a line graph. Avoid hockey sticks as investors will discount those numbers as unrealistic. Investors will look for the growth rate you are projecting. They will look to see when you go cash flow positive. Investors will look at the burn rate on the profit line and then check the fundraise to see how much cash runway you are proposing. The key takeaway regarding how to present your financial projections is the importance of calling out three key numbers such as the growth rate, months to cash flow positive, and the number of months of cash runway. How Investors Use Your Financial Model Investors use the financial model to understand not only the business but also to learn about the founder and their skills.  Here are some key points investors look for: Salaries: How well is the team compensated, and does this fit the stage of the business? Customer acquisition and retention: Have you built a system for acquiring customers and retaining them? Traction: What traction do you have going so far? Knowledge of the business: How well do you know the costs of running the business as well as what factors drive revenue? Scale factors: Based on the costs and customer acquisition model, how well can the business scale? Use of funds: How are you are going to spend the funds raised? Does it make sense for the stage of the business? Potential outcome: Is this a venture business or a lifestyle business? Consider how the investor will view your deal in building out your financial projections.  Feel free to try out our calculators and contact us if you would like to discuss your fundraise: http://staging.startupfundingespresso.com/calculators/ Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network. TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group.

    How to Write a Pitch Deck

    August 22, 2021

    2 min read When venturing into raising funding, every startup needs to know how to write a pitch deck. The following is a listing of all the slides you’ll need to put in your startup’s pitch deck. Use it to make a solid first impression on potential and current investors. After reading this list, if you still have questions about what needs to be in the slides, check out our TEN Capital eGuide: How to Build a Pitch Deck for an in-depth explanation of the subject. The Problem State the problem you are solving so the investor has a frame of reference for your startup. Show how this is a critical problem and must be solved versus a nice-to-have solution. The Solution For your solution, show a picture of the core product or technology so the investor gets a sense of it. Describe how you came up with it and why it’s a great solution. Highlight both what it does and why they should care. The Market Show the total available market, which is anyone you can sell to. Then show the serviceable market or your core target market. Finally, show the beachhead market (the first 20 customers you’ll sell if you are early stage). Monetization This slide answers the question of how you make money. The goal is to show you have predictable revenue from your operations. Traction In this slide show current sales as well as the funnel of upcoming sales opportunities, your pipeline, customers and prospective customers, and forecast numbers for each opportunity. The Competition This slide often helps highlight the market size and strength by showing who is playing in that space. In your slide, highlight three to four competitors. Avoid saying you have no competition. Competitive Advantage Highlight your core value proposition for the customer, then show what value the customer receives from your product/service. Show what competitive advantages you have. The Team For this slide, the goal is to show you have a complete team and everyone has experience. Show the C-level team, including the CEO, CTO, and CSO, and the names of companies and projects they have worked on that, are relevant to your target industry. Value Proposition This slide should tell you the benefits and why customers will choose you over competitors. Financials This slide gives the company’s current status concerning revenue, expenses, and profit. You want to cover growth rate, scale of revenue, and break-even expectations. Investment Opportunity This slide shows the fundraise target and how much is raised so far. Show interested and committed investors and invested funds to date and key terms of the deal. Read more from the TEN Capital eGuide How to Build a Pitch Deck: http://staging.startupfundingespresso.com/how-to-build-a-pitch-deck/ Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network. TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group

    Presenting Your Pitch Deck

    August 13, 2021

    2 min read Presenting Your Pitch Deck: what you need to know. A pitch deck is an essential tool to have when looking for funding for your startup. Your pitch deck functions as your introduction to your potential investor and can make or break your relationship. Here are some essential points to keep in mind when crafting your own. The Goal of The Pitch Deck The goal of the pitch deck is to introduce your deal to an investor and find out what is essential to them. It isn’t to tell your complete story or explain how your product works. Ideally, you want to plan a follow-up meeting with the investor. Good pitch decks show what you are doing and the opportunity to grow more with funding. Ideal pitches show the proposed outcome will happen with or without them; in other words, the outcome is inevitable. The results of the team are there for everyone to see what has been done so far. Remember, you are the presentation, not the slides. Avoid discussing multiple scenarios as this may confuse your audience. Focus on the core message – it’s one product, one team, one market, one fundraise, and one outcome. What Your Title Says About You Investors want to know what your product is from your pitch, not just your technology or benefits. Your title should come near the beginning of the pitch, as some investors have difficulty focusing on what you’re saying until they know what the product is. It’s essential to show the product and define it clearly, so investors know how you will approach the market. If it’s a physical product, show a picture of it. Make sure the product has a name, helping establish it as a real thing in the investor’s mind, even if the product is still in development. Even the case of a physical device can make it seem real. Say what it does in five words or less, so the investor gets a high-level understanding of it. Even if the product is not yet ready for sale, treat it like it has form and function now so that investors can grasp what you are doing. Common Mistakes in Developing a Pitch Deck One of the most common mistakes is explaining in great detail how the product or technology works. Instead, focus on the benefits of the product and what it does for customers. It’s better to save the detailed explanations for later. Other mistakes include: Not identifying the competition or claiming there is none. Making the font so small that no one beyond the first row can read it. Using too many words so that readers get distracted by reading it. Not setting up a flow, so the slides follow a logical story form. Using market sizing to distract the audience from the fact that you have no traction. Forgetting to ask for investment, so investors are left wondering what you want from them. Using cut and paste from Excel for financials, rendering the slide unreadable. Trying to tell the investor everything in one sitting. Remember… The pitch deck should focus on your core product, team, customer, and fundraise. You can flesh out the details later. The biggest mistake is not asking questions or listening. Most startups spend their time talking when they should be listening for objections and concerns. Read more from the TEN Capital eGuide How to Build a Pitch Deck: http://staging.startupfundingespresso.com/how-to-build-a-pitch-deck/ Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network. TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group

    Your Pitch Deck Slides

    July 28, 2020

    2 min read Every startup is going to need a pitch deck if they intend to raise funding. So, if you’re new to the startup world, here’s a brief overview of the slides in a pitch deck and their purpose: Title – This will always be the first of your pitch deck slides. Your title slide should be unmistakably clear. It should convey the style and culture of the company. Problem – It’s important to start the pitch with the problem you are solving so the investor has a frame of reference for your startup. Show how this is an important problem that must be solved. Solution – After you have presented a problem to the investors, this becomes your chance to show how you intend to solve that problem. This gives you a chance to sell your startup to the investor. Make it count. Market – The market slide shows the size of the opportunity. The bigger the opportunity, the better. Monetization – The monetization slide has one basic goal: it answers the question of how you make money. Traction – For this slide, you should be able to show current sales as well as the funnel of upcoming sales opportunities. Be sure to include forecast numbers for each opportunity. Competition – The competition slide is useful because it often helps highlight the market size. Competitive Advantage – Make it a point to show what value the customer receives from your product/service. Team – This is your chance to showcase the people you’ve brought on board with your company. Value Proposition – The value proposition slide serves to show what value your product/service brings to the customer. Financial – The financial slide is used to give the current status of the company with respect to revenue, expenses, and profit. Investment Opportunity – This slide functions to show your fundraise target and how much is raised so far. Read more: http://staging.startupfundingespresso.com/how-to-build-a-pitch-deck/ Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network.TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group

    The Importance of Your Pitch Deck

    July 21, 2020

    1 min read A pitch deck is a huge step toward funding for a startup. In many cases, this is the first tool of communication you’ll reach for when presenting your ideas to an audience and first impressions count. A good first impression during a job interview may lead an individual to the career of their dreams, however, a good first impression during a pitch can lead an entrepreneur toward funding their dreams. A pitch deck is a brief presentation that provides your audience with an overview of your business. Ideally, the deck should answer any general questions an investor might have. The goal of the pitch deck is to introduce your startup to an investor. Additionally, the pitch deck should also serve as a way to highlight any essentials to an investor who may be considering your startup as an investment opportunity. What a pitch deck is not is a means to explain the full history of your company. It is also not a means to explain how your product works. These topics can be covered later on. Instead, focus on making a strong introduction of your company to the investor and do everything you can to leave a good and memorable first impression. Just as important as a strong first impression, is the proper follow up with an investor. After you’ve made your pitch, be sure to schedule a follow-up meeting with them. Use your meeting time to answer any questions the investor might have. Also, take advantage of this time and ask the investor questions you might have. Make sure you have new information to share. Give the investor a reason to join the call to learn more. The goal here is to keep the investor engaged well after you’ve made your pitch. Read more: http://staging.startupfundingespresso.com/how-to-build-a-pitch-deck/ Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network.TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group

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