Nice pitch decks are like artworks. Are you able to change into a pitch deck artist?
A good friend had simply returned from a trip to Paris. He was telling me about his go to to the Louvre, and he talked about his ideas on the Mona Lisa:
“The room the place it hangs is admittedly crowded.”
“The portray is way smaller than I assumed it’d be.”
“I don’t actually see what all of the fuss is about.”
Heaps of people that go to Mona Lisa say related issues, and it’s as a result of they’re visiting the portray as one thing they’re “imagined to do” in Paris fairly than as a result of they admire nice artwork. They aren’t actually “artwork folks,” they usually wrestle understanding why Mona Lisa is so particular.
To be clear, I’m not an “artwork particular person,” and I don’t know a lot about nice artwork, so I’m woefully under-qualified to clarify what makes the Mona Lisa, or every other portray, particular. However that’s OK as a result of this text isn’t about work. It’s about one thing I’m rather more certified to debate: fundraising pitch decks.
I’m a pitch deck snob who spends extra time obsessing over his slides than the typical entrepreneur. Heck, I’m not even positive most buyers look as carefully on the minor particulars of pitch decks as I do. However the identical is true for excellent artwork, proper? The overwhelming majority of people that go to museums are solely casually glancing on the paintings. Entrepreneurs are inclined to strategy their pitch decks the identical means. It’s like seeing the Mona Lisa whereas in Paris. A pitch deck is a perfunctory factor entrepreneurs are “imagined to do” whereas fundraising fairly than a posh and complicated piece of media able to being evaluated and appreciated with an elevated degree of information and respect.
To be clear, I don’t imply most entrepreneurs don’t work onerous on their decks. I simply imply that the majority entrepreneurs don’t admire the nuance of pitch decks and what can elevate a pitch deck past the extent of purposeful and into the extent of elegant. And similar to nice artwork is wildly advanced but deceptively easy, each element in an excellent pitch deck issues, nothing is a mistake or accident, and what’s excluded is simply as vital as what’s included.
These sorts of little particulars are in every single place in your pitch deck, and my aim, on this article, is to let you know about a few of the most vital ones so you may elevate your pitch deck from competent to masterpiece.
It’s 2023, folks! Each display screen in our lives is large, which suggests your slides must be widescreen, as properly. No good pitch deck makes use of a 4×3 side ratio. Not anymore. Not in 2023. I don’t care in case you initially constructed your slides a decade in the past, again when a 4×3 side ratio may need been acceptable. It’s time to rebuild them.
PRO TIP: To cope with slides that aren’t as tall as you have been used to, be taught to make use of the edges of your slides as locations for boilerplate data like logos and headings.
No person desires to learn a novel on a powerpoint slide. Heck, no person even desires to learn novels anymore. We stay in an age of TikToks and Tweets, so your pitch deck wants as few phrases as doable.
PRO TIP: In the event you’re struggling to clarify one thing advanced with out a number of phrases, think about using footage as a substitute. In any case, an image is price a thousand phrases.
We’ve come a great distance from the times of our important font decisions being Courier, Instances New Roman, or Ariel. Nevertheless, regardless of the 1000’s of fonts available, most slide decks use no matter generic font is default for the software program. Why? Experiment together with your font and discover one thing that evokes the model and perspective of the corporate you’re pitching.
PRO TIP: Line spacing is simply as vital as font alternative. You don’t need your lovely fonts showing in squished-together paragraphs.
Till comparatively just lately in human historical past, paper was costly. In consequence, folks stuffed each nook of their pages, wrote on the backs of previous scraps of paper, and usually didn’t discard one thing that might be written on till the ultimate little bit of house had been used. However instances have modified, and house on a web page isn’t practically as valuable because it was once, so don’t fear about filling all of the empty house in your slides. As an alternative, let your content material breathe.
PRO TIP: On the whole, it’s higher to make issues barely smaller — fonts, pictures, graphs — and depart a little bit of whitespace than fill issues to the sides.
Whereas I’m as regards to house, the digital house of a slide deck is infinite, and your deck can embrace as many slides as you need. To be clear, I don’t imply your deck needs to be so long as doable. As an alternative, I imply you may unfold content material and concepts throughout a number of slides as a substitute of cramming every little thing collectively. For instance, fairly than inserting all of the gadgets of a listing on a single slide, create a brand new slide for every merchandise in your listing and encompass it with a number of great whitespace.
PRO TIP: When you will have a number of slides, you may flip by means of them within the background of your pitch virtually prefer it’s a film or flip e book enjoying behind you as you speak. I do that typically with my slides. I’ll use as many as 70 slides for a ten minute pitch. Audiences find it irresistible. They really feel extra like they’re watching a film than a pitch.
Harsh transitions make issues really feel much less completed. For instance, the metallic edges on the insides of low cost wristwatches are 90-degree angles the place the metallic was reduce by machines. In distinction, the most costly mechanical watches — watches price tons of of 1000’s, and even hundreds of thousands of {dollars} — have gentle, easy edges smoothed by hand. The identical is true on your slide deck. Whenever you flip between slides, add a refined fade animation. Your viewers will hardly discover the distinction, however the slides will really feel extra polished and refined.
PRO TIP: Harsh edges additionally make pictures and shapes really feel cheaper. Take into account including barely rounded edges to your pictures in addition to any sq. or rectangular bins inside your slides.
In earlier days of fundraising, entrepreneurs printed their slides and shared bodily copies with buyers. In distinction, fashionable pitch decks are virtually all the time considered on pc screens. Meaning the slides don’t should be static. You’ll be able to add animations so the slides change as you speak. Use this energy sparingly, however use it properly. A superbly-timed animation might be an effective way to emphasise an vital level.
PRO TIP: Keep away from gimmicky or distracting animations. As famous in step six, fast, refined fades are often one of the best ways so as to add dynamic components to slides with out making something look low cost.
Books have web page numbers to be able to create simple reference factors that individuals can use to convey the placement of sure content material. Slide decks don’t want this characteristic. In any case, when was the final time you mentioned, “As we are able to see on web page 12,” throughout a pitch? As an alternative, web page numbers distract audiences by making them surprise what web page they’re on in relation to the bigger presentation. Web page numbers additionally make it tougher to have a number of slides with small quantities of textual content (as per level #5 above).
PRO TIP: The opposite cause to keep away from web page numbers is as a result of they change into an annoying trouble to cope with while you inevitably add or take away slides out of your deck.
Similar to books have web page numbers to assist readers navigate them, analysis papers have headings. And headings are useful for analysis papers, however they’re pointless in an excellent pitch deck. A very good pitch deck doesn’t want to inform folks when it’s describing “The Downside,” explaining “The Competitors,” or speaking about “Our Staff.” The slides needs to be clear sufficient that individuals taking a look at them can perceive the matters based mostly on what they’re seeing and/or what a presenter is saying about them. If they will’t, the answer isn’t so as to add headings; the answer is to restructure the pitch deck.
PRO TIP: In the event you want a presentation model of your deck and a model individuals are going to overview on their very own ( a “depart behind” deck), you may add headings to the latter.
My 4-year-old loves rainbows. However, she’s additionally 4 years previous. For the remainder of us, paperwork with a number of completely different colours are distracting and ugly. With this in thoughts, make certain your slide deck doesn’t appear like it ate a pile of Skittles. Restrict the colour palette on your deck to 2 or three colours.
PRO TIP: The most effective shade combos have one important shade for major textual content, one muted shade for secondary textual content, and one spotlight shade for key textual content.
