In very simplistic terms, startups are experiments. Or rather, a series of increasingly more complex experiments. Everything you do in a startup is iterative, and it’s never done—just like software.

One of the first things you should be working on is how you tell the world about what you’re doing. And for many, a  fundraising deck is their first encounter with telling that story. Over the years I’ve seen lots of well meaning but poor advice given to founders about how to think about their story in deck form. But it’s pretty simple… it’s just a tool. It’s one of many at your disposal, and like all great tools, it has just one job: to set up your first meeting with an investor for success.

Setting up for success

So, what does “set that meeting up for success” mean? Usually, it means a follow-up meeting / conversation with more back and forth, that might lead to investment. At pre-seed, that’s all a deck should be focussed on. It doesn’t need to answer all the questions, just enough to put a foundation for a great future investor partnership in place.

I’ve worked on countless iterations of my own decks and I’ve helped out many founders on theirs. I’ve also been on the receiving end of hundreds of decks over the past decade. While you’re unlikely to raise your first round entirely on the basis of a deck, a well crafted and refined narrative will do a lot of the heavy lifting.

To be clear, I don’t necessarily mean a deck that is visually well designed. I’m talking about a deck that is so well thought out, and has been through sufficient iterations, that there is little or no friction with the reader. The best decks I’ve seen are ones that answer the questions I immediately had on a subsequent slide, gave me a high-level but complete picture of the startup in its current state as well as a tantalising glimpse into its future potential. So much so that it leaves me with an urgency to learn more.

For me, when I see a deck like this it tells me that the founders have done sufficient work on raw materials such as market research, prototyping, customer discovery, and experimentation with their initial approach that they are able to clearly articulate what they are going to do in a very refined and elegant way.

Any deck design work should amplify this feeling of refinement, rather than cover up the gaps. So, I’d usually encourage founders to just focus on writing, and refining the narrative through feedback from peers, customers, industry leaders etc.

Furthermore, I believe that putting a first pass of a deck together is the very first thing a founder should do, even if it’ll be some time before they raise. The point is the refinement of thought, the articulation of vision, strategy and even tactics. Narrative writing at such an early stage can have a catalysing effect on how you think about building, and can be a great tool for aligning co-founders, and other early supporters. Doing so with the understanding that it’s all a work in progress—an experiment—puts you as a founder in a mindset that no one really ever acknowledges: you’re kind of making it up as you go along, and so is everyone else. Yes, even investors.

Whether it’s a memo or deck, or if you’re ready to raise or not, here are the basic things you need. Depending on the industry you’re in,  whether you’re regulated or not, or if you’re building something that’s purely software based or a mix of other moving parts, your mileage may vary on the below. But generally speaking, you’re going to need to articulate the following.

→ Opening with one or two lines elegantly describing what the company does

This is Founder 101 stuff. You need to be able to quickly tell people what you do in such a way that most people will be able to understand. As I said, startups are experiments and iterating based on observations are the core of experiments. This will be something you’ll be constantly iterating on.

→ Team

Include names, titles / what you do, logos of past companies, anything that ties you together in a unique way. There should probably be an even distribution of skills: technical, commercial, + one other, eg domain specific. Different investors will have different preferences around this.

Why are you the people to build this?

→ Statement on what the problem is…

…followed by more detailed statements of why it’s a problem and who experiences it, ideally supported by data / evidence. This is your first chance to give real context as to the challenges, barriers, constraints and frustrations that are felt by a clearly identifiable group of people / businesses. Being able to explain why this problem exists and how you're in a (possibly unique) position to identify it will underscore the opportunity.

→ Statement of your solution / approach…

…followed by more detailed statements on how it works, why it’s interesting / novel, and how it unlocks opportunity. It should be grounded in reality and research. It should also be something that is compatible with the business model, go to market strategies and other details that will come in subsequent slides. This is also your chance to subtly answer the question "why you're the people to build this".

→ Product screen shots / concepts / mock ups

"Show, don't tell" applies here. Some investors are more driven by visuals, if they can see it then if feels more real. For others, it's less important compared to, say, your ability to sell. When showing any product screens, be sure to use the full dimensions of the slide, don’t make people squint!

→ Statement on the size / segments / tiers of the market

As it stands today, and as it grows in the future, followed by specific statements on initial target market and what it’s worth. Support with any published data / reporting you can find. You should outline what position of the market you think you can capture.

→ Outline of the competition

Demonstrate with as few words as possible that you have researched others well, and you understand your positioning and value v’s theirs. Alex Iskold makes a great point in this post. Trying to compete on a feature by feature basis is about as useful as competing purely on price. Positioning is more about benefits and value to the customer, and your ability to build around that.

→ Outline of initial ICP, go to market strategy, and business / pricing model

No one expects you to nail the go to market strategy the first time, since it’s an experiment, but you do need to have put some thought and research into who your first customers are going to be, and why they’ll find your proposition compelling enough to pay you. Same goes for the pricing… you will definitely change your pricing as you evolve, but you need to find a balance between something that works for your initial market, but also takes into account the early stage-ness of your product. Depending on the length of your sales cycle (eg if you’re selling to government departments) you’ll need to make sure you can survive long enough to develop some kind of traction.

→ Any progress to date

Any kind of progress is helpful. It doesn't necessarily have to be customer traction or revenue, it could be:

• what you've learned over the past month

• feedback from potential customers or design partners on a prototype

• validating a set of assumptions you made on the problem or solution

The point is that progress over time at pre-seed is seen as an indicator of your ability to get things done, and execute with some sense of urgency.

→ Finish by having an "Ask"

I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve gotten to the end of a pre-seed deck and there is no indication of what the company is raising. Outline how much are you raising, and what the funds will be used for. Most of the funds will go on people, but it’s also helpful to outline how those people will combine their skills and experience to create value, and to outline what learnings or progress this funding will unlock such that your next round will be set up for success.

Other things to consider

Any combination of the above will give a high-level but complete picture of the startup in its current state, and with that, will prime the first meeting to be a conversation and the first step in developing a potentially great founder-investor relationship.

It'll be tempting to include as much information as possible, but try to avoid doing that. The investor has probably seen multiple decks that day, and you're competing for attention. Remember the deck is a tool, and it has one job. The longer it takes for the investor to get a sense of what you're doing and if it's something that's compelling to them, the more unlikely your first meeting will happen.

Easy to consume and share

Consider that the investor may be reading on mobile, so watch out for anything that could introduce friction:

• web apps like Pitch, Google Slides and DocSend can end up not making use of the full screen on mobile and the reader then has to pinch and zoom.

• ensure headings and font sizes are clear and easy to read without zooming.

• if you have a video of a demo that you really feel is important to include:

  • don't embed it in the deck

  • link to it either in your communication to them or link direct from the deck

  • keep the video very short, no more than 2 mins, and only focus on showing benefits not features

• animations, transitions or other motions embedded are a distraction, and will probably look even worse on mobile.

• a simple PDF is often the best way to ensure consistency of reading experience across devices. While it does come at the expense of not tracking analytics on a slide by slide, it is easily shared by WhatsApp or other forms of direct communication, which is something that many investors do.

Things to avoid

• Five year financial projections; everyone knows they’re made up since you have no real data to back them up with. That's not to say you shouldn't model this out and have a good sense of what you think you can achieve or aim for with the right resources. And of course, you should be able to talk through your thinking on this if it comes up. But including a table with future revenue and charts that curve up and to the right when you're pre or early revenue, and have little or no data to ground it in, will not impress an experienced pre-seed investor.

  
  

• Logos of accelerator programs, government support or local press coverage. They’re weak social proof signals and will not impress, especially with international / non-local investors.
  
  

• Listing advisors, unless they’re extremely well known, and are strategically placed to make your first 6-12 months easier eg: they give you reliable and early access to customers.
  
  

• Taking all the feedback on board without critically analysing it can have you going around in circles. Lots of people will have feedback and advice, but not all of it is equal. Not all feedback is relevant, useful or helpful. You need to combine it with your own sense of direction and what feels right. Blindly taking all feedback and incorporating it will leave would with a bloated, disconnected narrative.

Final thoughts

To recap, your deck is just a tool and it does one job, you won’t get it right the first time, iterating is key to a more rounded story, seek feedback from peers, other founders and investors you already know / trust.

I've repeatedly mentioned things like clarity of thought, and refinement of the narrative. The reason why this is so important is simple: if there are gaps in your thinking or something is presented ambiguously, investors will happily apply their own assumptions.

Wouldn't it be a shame for them to make a decision to not invest based on their assumption, rather than a clear statement of fact or narrative?

Reach out if you want feedback

If you're a pre-seed founder and would like to get unfiltered, candid feedback on your deck, I'm happy to help. Drop me an email on eamon@broadstone.vc, and I'll get back to you. Any feedback I share will be just my opinion, based on my experience, and it's up to you decide how much if any of it you should take on board.

After all, we're all just making it up as we go along.

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If you'd like to comment on this, especially if you think there's anything I missed, join the conversation on LinkedIn.