<aside> 👋 Hey there! Here’s the slide-by-slide pitch deck guide I’d promised. The doc is pretty long and not a one time read. So, I recommend you bookmark this link.

This doc has been compiled basis conversations with investors at leading global VCs such as Accel, Sequoia, Matrix, Square Peg, AirTree Ventures, and angel investors from Stripe, Google, and Slack. We combined this with a 70+ page detailed report from DocSend to create a slide-by-slide guide for everyone creating a pre seed-stage pitch deck.

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Investors have ~2.5 mins to form an initial impression and make a decision to engage further. You need to convey the right amount of information: too little and they lack context, too much and you increase their cognitive load. Remember: You as a founder know 10x more about the space than most investors and need to bring them up to speed in a convenient manner.

<aside> 🎮 If you prefer to focus on your story and your venture and leave the presentation busywork to us, you can craft your pitch in a new presentation format, Chronicle. Here is an exclusive sneak peek 👀 for you. Sign up to the Chronicle waitlist today.

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Here is a summary of what we’ve learned:

(👆double click to expand)

Why does a pitch deck matter?

The pitch deck is a means for founders to tell their story in a consistent and concise manner throughout their fundraising journey. The pitch deck is your first impression, a trust building element. It is your opportunity to get a foot-in-the-door:

1. Share async over email to get the first meeting OR
2. Share sync in the first meeting to pique investor interest

In order to build conviction, we rely on founders to tell us a compelling story, almost always in the form of slides. We’ve funded companies almost entirely because of the quality of their seed decks. Poor deck? We’ll likely pass on the opportunity. ~ Delian Asparouhov, investor at Khosla Ventures

The story must explain at a fundamental level why you exist. Why does the world need your company? Why do we need to be doing what we’re doing and why is it important? You can have a great product, but a compelling story puts the company into motion. The mistake people make is thinking the story is just about marketing. No, the story is the strategy. If you make your story better you make the strategy better. ~ Ben Horowitz, founder a16z

Overall advice and how to stand out

• 🕊️ Share a story, not just a deck: Keeping in mind the order of sections given below, start off by writing 10-15 headlines that sum up your startup and your story. And then begin building your slides. Remember, narratives are much easier to digest than lots of text, facts, and stats. Investors should be able to relate with your problem and product.
• 🕵️‍♂️ Option to deep-dive where required: Investors often have specific questions they’re looking to answer through your deck - both before and after your live presentation. Ensure that your deck contains answers to the most important questions upfront or in the appendix and can easily be discovered. At the same time, ensure you are not overloading them with too much information. They are spending ~2.5 mins per deck and prefer a summary of key points with the option to get more details where required (as one would do in a live/sync meeting).