If you are preparing to move into active fundraising for your startup or early stage impact business, then you’ve likely spent untold hours putting together your Pitch Deck. In one respect, it could be said that this highly synthesized document is your greatest piece of intelligence and therefore not something to be thrown around lightly. Let’s explore some of the considerations for how to go about sharing your precious Pitch Deck.
Prospective investors, particularly professional investment groups, see so many one-pagers (or executive summary as it’s sometimes referred to) from so many companies in a given timeframe, that it is common, if they are interested in learning more, to request that you send them your deck in advance of a pitch meeting. Since, you as the Founder or CEO are a key part of the investment proposition, this isn’t ideal for you. As the entrepreneur, you aren’t with your deck to answer questions that might arise or provide the deeper narrative that you might normally deliver in the context of a pitch meeting. Therefore, it’s recommended that you develop what might be referred to as a Distributable Deck. A version of your Pitch Deck that is more self-guided for the recipient as Pitch Deck’s oftentimes include high-level visuals that are explained as part of the pitch. The Distributable Deck may also be more streamlined in concept and merely take the prospective investor a bit deeper than the one-pager to encourage a face-to-face pitch meeting, therefore not going into the same depth of your full Pitch Deck.
You first need to distinguish the two types of decks that will be most useful in your fundraising process: 1) Pitch Deck and 2) Distributable Deck.
Of course, the use of any deck has come after getting through the front door to a prospective investor, likely through the use of another carefully crafted document, the one-pager.
Ideally, the one-pager has determined fit and interest between yourself and the prospective investor to such an extent, that you can schedule an in-person or virtual pitch meeting. This is where your Pitch Deck comes in, ideally getting through it in 20 minutes or less to leave plenty of time for Q&A. The best part of delivering a Pitch Deck in-person is the opportunity to have two-way communication and to read the body language of the recipient, so you can adapt the language of your pitch that accompanies your Pitch Deck to better reach the prospective investor.
Given the sensitive nature of your pitch deck, and for tracking purposes, it has become fairly common practice to share your Distributable Deck out to prospective investors using one of the deck sharing platforms. These require recipient authentication and provide useful analytics about their review of your deck and tracks who else in their network they may have shared out your deck with. Common deck sharing platforms include: DocSend, SlideShare, or Speaker Deck.
A third alternative, which in today’s tech-friendly world is more easily created, is to use a software that records you running through your Pitch Deck as if you were delivering it in person or in a virtual presentation with a prospective investor. Production value is important, so you will want to make sure to capture this type of recording with good audio and visual capturing technology to ensure a good picture and vibrant sound quality. Common deck recording software solutions include: Loom, Prezi, or Pitchtape.
However you will be delivering your Pitch Deck in your fundraising efforts, the one thing that is clear is that you need to be ready ahead of time to deliver your deck in whatever way prospective investors are requesting as part of their process. This readiness will serve you well as you move through your fundraising efforts.
Want to get prepared to raise capital successfully?
Download our Free Fundraising Checklist Here: https://thechangeagenthub.net/fundraising-checklist
Once you receive the checklist you’ll be redirected to a video walkthrough so you can use this checklist most effectively. And you’ll also be invited to check out our 9-step fundraising preparation roadmap with detailed information called Impact Incubator Immersion. This program is the exact process all our impact clients have used to raise capital successfully.
