Do I need more than one deck to pitch?

A question we always hear from founders is about their pitch decks:

Do we need more than one? The simple answer is yes. Various reasons drive this:

✅ Pitch events are not a uniform length: You will need decks for anything from a 2 minute to a 20 minute pitch

✅ One to one investor meetings have a different dynamic to more general pitch events, so your deck should reflect your investor’s potential interests, needs and concerns

✅ Handout decks – which you send rather than present – need more detail

✅ You may not want to disclose financial information at a first meeting or publicly

✅ You will learn something from every pitch and investor conversation, so update your deck often

What presentation materials do you really need? We suggest:

✔️ Executive summary of 1-2 pages: some investors prefer this as they can assess a startup more quickly

✔️ Hand out deck, without numbers: This has more detail (words) than a presentation deck so readers grasp the story/points you are making

✔️ Advanced hand out deck, with numbers and words

✔️ Pitch deck that you present: This needs minimal words and more graphics to avoid detracting from the story you are telling

In addition, you are going to need a very short elevator pitch for times when an opportunity to talk to a potential investor happens unplanned. Plus you will need a financial model and deal terms including your valuation, its justification, fundraising target, use of money and runway.

Sounds like a lot? Yes, but it’s worth the preparation as the better you know your story and can structure the conversation, the better will be your chances of attracting the smart money to help you realise success. Some tips & tricks:

☑️ Have 2 master decks: With differing pitch event times and stages of engaging with investors, the amount of information you share will change, so you need a master deck with all the possible slides you might use, including appendix slides. Having said that you need two master decks which you should update in parallel:

*The handout master – with words and numbers

*The presentation/pitch deck – with minimal words and more graphics

☑️ Consider the context: Pull the right amount of slides from the master for each event/meeting having considered what each event/or investor is interested in

☑️ Have backup/appendix slides: Prepare for questions investors may ask, so you can add slides that may address these as backup

☑️ Sharing information afterwards is fine: Some founders worry that they have to communicate everything in the moment, but you don’t. Most investors will be happy to receive additional information after the conversation to answer a question

☑️ Respect time: Make sure you don’t overrun, as this can really backfire if you get cut off or get seen as unprepared