Although I’ve taught and written extensively on how to craft a winning pitch deck, and they do matter, in today’s world you need more than a good pitch deck to win over investors.
Amidst AI-generated everything, and its capability of producing very high-quality pitch decks, a beautiful pitch deck alone is not impressive. It’s expected. Unfortunately, this also means that investors have no idea if you created that beautiful deck or if an AI program like ChatGPT did. The fact is, artificial intelligence has changed the process for angels and venture capitalists, so what can you do about it?
You Need More than a Good Pitch Deck Because Pitch Decks are Easy. Honest Conversations are Difficult and that’s What Matters Now
Maybe you’ve spent hours building a solid pitch deck. You’ve rehearsed your slides over and over. But you haven’t raised your funds yet. It could be because, now more than a good pitch deck is required to win over investors. You need to consider what investors expect and the kind of questions they have so that you can answer them when effectively asked.
The challenge for me, the investor, is: How do I know if this team understands how to build a successful business? True, you may have a beautiful pitch deck, but ChatGPT or some other large language model may have created that. So how can I be sure that the team knows what they’re doing?
The answer—and we will be seeing it more and more—is that investors are now spending more time sitting down with founders to grill them on the issues to make sure they have a deep understanding of what will be required to build a successful company rather than simply relying on a slick pitch deck.
The Reality: Conversations Win Capital
You need more than a good pitch deck because your pitch deck can’t run your business, and investors can’t tell if you wrote your pitch deck or if AI did. So they will want to have an in-depth conversation with you about the critical issues.
After decades of reviewing thousands of startup pitches, I’ve seen the same patterns: some founders with a deep and clear understanding of their business get funded. Others don’t. Not everyone is prepared to answer the questions investors may ask.
Meetings with investors can take different directions. Some investors will let you walk uninterrupted through your pitch deck. Others may ask questions as you present each slide. Others may raise a significant issue and completely derail your sequence. Some may not even let you get to your slide deck; they may start by asking the questions that are most important to them.
More than a Good Pitch Deck: Answering the RIGHT Questions Well
A pitch deck can create a glossy impression that you have thought everything through and have all the answers. Still, a conversation will very quickly expose any issues that you haven’t thought through carefully and can’t defend effectively. In my experience, founders often don’t understand the questions that investors are asking. So, more than a good pitch deck, you need to know what questions investors will ask and how to answer them effectively.
I could give an example of these types of questions for every slide in a deck, but a perfect one concerns your competition. For an investor, the question is not: How many boxes does your product check versus the competition? The questions investors want answered are:
- What are the dynamics of competition in your industry?
- Who are the vendors?
- How do they compete?
- How are they positioned within the market?
- What are the dynamics involving buyers, suppliers, vendors, substitute products, and alternative solutions?
It’s a deep and complicated question, and you need to answer it with the kind of analysis described by Michael Porter in his book, Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors.
Another example of what companies often get wrong is the question investors want answered about your team. The question is not: Who are the team members and what companies have they worked for?
The question is: Who are the members of your team and what have they accomplished that would make me believe they can build this company successfully?
Introducing the Solution: “Beyond the Deck: Win the Conversation” Video Course
To help founders have a meaningful and productive conversation with investors, I’ve created the Beyond the Deck video course. It’s a collection of 31 short and very focused video lessons averaging about 4 to 5 minutes. No introductions. No outro-ductions. No commercials. Just punchy and meaningful advice on the major topics your conversation should cover. It helps founders prepare for the true meaning of the questions investors ask and how to answer them. There are also a few short videos with general advice, like “How to Handle investor Pushback.“
The videos capture my five decades of dealing with funding for high-tech and bio-medical projects so you’ll be prepared with more than a good pitch deck when you seek funding.
Who should take this course?
This course is for anyone that understands that it takes more than a good pitch deck to stand out and get funded. So, for startup company founders and CEOs who want to raise capital and compete in an era when AI can create a compelling pitch deck this course will be valuable. It will also give those who understand that they will need to have effective, in-depth conversations with investors a competitive edge. Founders and CEOs who want to build confidence and clarity for investor meetings will also benefit from the course. Any founder or CEO who is frustrated with the current fundraising process will gain new insight.
You’ll Learn Why it Takes More than a Good Pitch Deck and What You DO Need
One lesson is titled, “Will This Company Make Money?”
This lesson will help you understand how the ROI question is essentially behind every question you need to answer.
This is the bottom line question that every investor is asking, but most pitch decks and even conversations don’t address it head-on. Although you don’t necessarily need to address it head-on, either, you DO need to understand how every slide in your pitch deck and every issue you discuss helps answer this question. Investors will do the math, but you need to give them all the components in a clear, well-researched, and well-defended manner.
Because of its design, you don’t have to take the lessons sequentially. You can jump around and view just the segments you think will help you most. You can now access, Beyond the Deck: Win the Conversation, for just $29 for a limited time.
Click here for access to my Beyond the Deck course.
Remember, in the age of AI, you need more than a good pitch deck. Because your pitch deck alone won’t set you apart, and it won’t get you funded. What will? Your deep knowledge of your business, and understanding the issues and the ability to articulate an effective case.
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