After last week’s Q&A on decks, a bunch of you replied with follow-up questions. Great! Keep them coming. I’m always keen to help you clear any fundraising hurdles you’re experiencing.

Quick reminder that if you’re looking for more insights on a specific topic, you can find all my essays here. Let’s get into it:

Do you think competition slides are useful? If so, what’s the best way to showcase it?

First we need to understand where this slide might be useful. If you are in a space where it's obvious that there are other players, well, you're going to have to show us why you're different, why you're unique.

In that case, it’s important for you to present a competition slide where you specifically call out your unique value proposition and why you have an advantage over everyone else.

However, if you’re saying that you’re creating a new market and all of your storytelling backs that up, don’t just put a competition slide in your deck because you've heard you should. It’s not going to be the best use of a slide.

Eliminate anything that isn’t essential to your story and just distracts from an investor’s focus.

So think about whether or not the competition slide tells the story well, and whether you absolutely need it because I don't always think that it's necessary in a deck.

How detailed should our financial projections be? How much detail is “too much”?

This  really depends on what stage your company is in. Are you a back-of-the-envelope, idea-stage company, or are you a Series B company that's been running for five years with loads of data and financial metrics.

Be a little more critical in thinking about why you need this in your deck and what the investor is looking for. In all cases, an investor wants to know that a founder has a plan. Investors know that the best-run businesses are run by the numbers. But in the earliest stages of a company, you won’t have it super dialed in exactly what everything’s going to cost. It probably doesn’t make sense to get into the granular details like having a week-by-week breakdown of how you’re going to spend x__ million dollars on a specific marketing channel.

But it does make sense to outline what you think the unit economics are going to be, not only in years one and two but also what happens in years three and four when you get to certain economies of scale and the margin profiles change. You're trying to tell a story based on numbers, showing that you have insight into where this is going.

In the later stages, you’ll have years of data and a lot more detail around  things like customer acquisition cost or top-line revenue. In these cases you’ll be able to tell a much more accurate story based on real numbers.

Generally speaking, investors just want to see that you have a grasp on how your business will run by the numbers, not every detail on headcount adjustment and precise marketing spend. I think that's overkill.

I was just in a bootcamp for founders, and everyone who got to pitch went really, really fast. Is that something you frown upon, or is it necessary to deliver all the information I think is critical?

This overlaps with one of my recent articles about preparing for pitch competitions or other artificially shortened periods of time.

Usually founders will encounter this in the form of a two to three-minute competition or an elevator pitch where you meet someone at a cocktail party and you only have 30 seconds to describe what you do. In all of these formats, my big push to everyone is less is more. If you could only get one concept across that the judges or the person you’re talking to will deeply understand, feel an emotion towards or a connection to- what would that be?

Don’t feel pressured to cover every single detail. Articulate just one or two points really well and give them time to breathe so that the listener can actually comprehend what's going on. Do it in a way that gets them leaning in to learn more. The people that are going really fast and trying to cram everything in are more likely to confuse everyone and tune out instead of following along. If you have two minutes, challenge yourself to allot 90 seconds for the actual content. The other 30 seconds will be used for all of the points of emphasis, connection, and short pauses that let your content sink in and resonate with your audience.

Takeaways

1. Focus on Clarity, Not Quantity: When pitching, resist the urge to cram every detail into your limited time. Instead, pick a few key points and articulate them clearly, aiming to get your audience leaning in and wanting to learn more. Aim to finish your presentation a bit before time's up so you’re not rushing. Allowing time for your words to have a greater weight & impact.
2. Financial Projections Should Reflect Stage: Tailor the depth of your financial projections to your company's stage. Early-stage startups should focus on overall unit economics and strategic insight into financial planning, rather than granular details, whereas later-stage companies might delve into the specifics, as they have more data to support their projections.
3. Show investors you can run your business by the numbers: This doesn't mean exhaustive details but rather demonstrating a clear vision of how the unit economics could play out as you scale.
4. Use Competition Slides Strategically: Don't include a competition slide just for the sake of it. Use it if it helps clarify your unique value proposition and how you stand out in a crowded market. If you're creating a new market, the traditional competition slide might not be relevant.
5. Eliminate the Non-Essential: Scrutinize every slide, every sentence, every word. If it doesn't add value or drive your pitch forward, cut it out. Unnecessary information will distract from the key messages you want to convey to your investors. Keep it succinct, compelling, and focused.

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Be chased,
Jason