Crafting an effective pitch deck is only the first step to securing funding from investors. How you deliver and present your deck is equally important for making a stellar impression. Follow this ultimate guide to strategically share your pitch deck with investors and significantly boost your odds of investment.
Research Your Target Investors Thoroughly
The foundation of sharing a persuasive pitch deck begins long before you send the file. You must first research potential investors thoroughly to understand their specific interests, backgrounds, past investments, and criteria.
Sources like Crunchbase and PitchBook offer databases on VC firms and angels to uncover individual profiles, portfolios, check sizes, and industry preferences. Social media can also provide additional color. This helps tailor your deck’s messaging, examples, and visual aesthetics to resonate with each recipient. Avoid spraying generic decks randomly and instead customize aspects to each investor. Demonstrating this level of preparation also signals your dedication and strategic approach.
Optimize Initial Contact and Follow-Ups
When reaching out with your deck, personalize your email for each investor to reference individuals by name, company specifics, and any common connections. Express genuine interest in learning their thoughts on your business concept and highlight relevant sections you believe may intrigue them.
Politely follow up within 5-7 days if you don’t receive a response. Sometimes life simply gets busy, so brief check-ins show persistence without being perceived as pestering. If they request more time or information, promptly comply to continue conveying professionalism.
Leverage Technology for Security and Analytics
Rather than attaching pitch decks directly or using consumer file-sharing platforms, utilize secure investor portal technologies like Dropbox, Box, or OneDrive built for business. These tools allow setting permissions, access controls, and usage analytics while maintaining version control.
Analytics help track insights like document opens, most viewed slides, and reading time to refine your deck. Features like customized watermarking with viewer info limit unauthorized sharing. Tools also securely facilitate collecting electronic signatures on NDAs to protect proprietary data.
Perfect Your Pitch Deck’s Look and Feel
Just as critical as your content is ensuring your deck visually looks the part to instill confidence in your capabilities. Use slide templates from resources like Slidebean and Slidescarnival for a clean, professional design. Consistently apply your brand colors, fonts, and logo across slides with enough white space to prevent crowding.
Infographics, charts, and images should enhance and simplify complex details rather than distract. Video embeds can demonstrate products and convey passion, but ensure they load quickly. Finding this balance elevates your substance through a polished form.
Stand Out with an Engaging Executive Summary
Your pitch deck’s opening executive summary slide is prime for real estate to make a strong first impression. Rather than listing rote bullet points, consider an energetic bold statistic, thought-provoking question, or captivating quote. Follow with a brief paragraph summary setting the scene for your solution to a critical problem. This grabs attention while introducing your value proposition. The subsequent slides then validate and expand on your initial hook.
Prioritize Content for Remote Delivery
Since you may not present your deck live, ensure it stands alone if viewed independently. Use concise bullet points rather than full paragraphs while avoiding walls of text. Emphasize visuals, charts, and diagrams over words for a simplified explanation of market validation, product functionality, and projections.
Enable one-click access to any external video demos directly within your deck using embedded links. Make your contact info readily available on multiple slides for follow-up questions. Review your flow through an investor’s eyes before finalizing the neck.
Customize for Early vs. Growth Stage
What you highlight differs considerably between seeking early-stage seed funding versus Series B/C growth rounds. The early stage focuses more prominently on your talented team’s experience and their ability to execute the vision using some validated assumptions on market potential.
Later rounds instead emphasize concrete traction and metrics demonstrating product-market fit, repeat sales, and scaling potential based on real-world performance. Adjust your messaging appropriately.
Follow Up Persistently and Politely
Avoid anxiously peppering investors with constant calls or emails requesting updates pre-maturely after sending your deck. But do send periodic friendly check-ins every two to three weeks if you don’t hear back after reasonable time frames. Sometimes their delay is less about your pitch than simply navigating busy schedules and priorities. Brief reminders help advance your deck to the top of the pile without being perceived as aggressive.
Finally, when you do get a chance to speak, prepare thoughtful answers to address investor objections and be ready to discuss specifics on quantitative assumptions and model validation. Avoid defensiveness if they challenge your projections or assumptions. Instead, listen openly and acknowledge areas where your planning may be bolstered by their experience.
In today’s crowded venture landscape, how you deliver your pitch deck matters greatly. Follow these tips and leverage the latest collaborative technologies to make meaningful connections with compatible investors. With a compelling deck and some strategic relationship building, you can substantially boost your odds of funding success.
