Best Practices & Mistakes (1)

Pitch Deck Best Practices:

• Use a large font and concise, information-packed sentences.
• Use bullet points instead of paragraphs to provide key information and structure.
• Use narrative to engage your audience with stories, but be mindful of time constraints for a two-minute presentation.
• Utilize visuals such as pictures, charts, and graphs to convey information quickly and effectively.
• Include contact details on the first or last slide.
• Use slide-show templates on platforms like Canva to create visually coherent and appealing pitch decks. Expectations are higher now than they were ten years ago, especially if you don't have a designer on your team to create a custom pitch deck.
• Practice your pitch in front of others to ensure you present fluently and manage time restrictions well.

Pitch Deck Mistakes:

• Avoid including too much information on the slides. There isn't enough time to read everything during a presentation.
• Stick to a clear and expected structure. The audience expects certain information, and it should be presented as clearly as possible.
• Stay on topic during the presentation. A pitch is not a conversation.
• Avoid including too many details for a single topic. Time constraints require you to focus on the most important pieces of information in more depth, rather than listing many things without covering them at all. For instance, if you are a later-stage startup, avoid including too many team members on the team slide.