When an investor is running out of time, conversations often end with "why don't you email me an executive summary".
Upon hearing that, startups wil scramble to produce the well-known executive summary format, compressing the entire pitch deck in just a few paragraphs:
Think of this from the investor perspective: this document is boring and so dense that it would take the same amount of time to read it start to finish than to page-down through a slide deck. Here is an alternative: "I am sending you a 5 minute pitch"
Upon hearing that, startups wil scramble to produce the well-known executive summary format, compressing the entire pitch deck in just a few paragraphs:
- Has to fit 2 pages, so no space for visuals, use a small font or narrow margins if required
- Stuff the text with buzzwords and big numbers
- Include all the features of your product
- Spend a lot of paragraphs on CV details of the founding team
Think of this from the investor perspective: this document is boring and so dense that it would take the same amount of time to read it start to finish than to page-down through a slide deck. Here is an alternative: "I am sending you a 5 minute pitch"
- A short and visual document, but it could be longer than 2 pages
- Explaining the investment opportunity in human language
- Focus more on the problem, less on financial, product details, and team details (that can come later)
- The objective is not to get the investment (yet), but to get invited to the next stage in the investment process, possibly a full pitch meeting
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