When impressing investors is at the core of your pitch-mistakes are bound to occur.
We asked Kanini Mutooni, Managing Director from the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, what are the common pitchdeck mistakes.
The DRK Foundation is a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact social enterprises. We believe that with early funding and rigorous support, exceptional leaders, tackling some of society’s most complex problems, can make the world a better place as on www.drkfoundation.org.
Here are her insights on 4 common pitchdeck mistakes:
1. Too much information-too, much text.
“A pitchdeck is intended to be an introduction to a company or organisation. What I see often is a 30-pg pitch deck that attempts to give the entire overview of every single thing that the company is doing. Yes, we need specificity but in an easy to digest way- because investors get to see at least 10 of these a day. If you are struggling to condense your model, team, revenue model, and your projections in a 7 pg PowerPoint, it means you have a problem articulating your model. ”
2. No financials
“Where are your financials? Where are your actuals? A lot of entrepreneurs tend to leave this out, thinking that it will put off the investor. Put the financials in, 3-year actuals and 2-year projected financials, just PnL (Profits and Losses). Remember to make sure your projections are realistic and grounded on fact and not fiction.”
3. Teams
” I am particular about the kind of team an organisation has. Who is the founder? Who do they have supporting him? If there is a cap table who is on it? I normally see a slide where a name or two names with no clear titles of what they do and no clear indication of whether they have equity. It is essential for me that a team is incentivised to make the company a success, and equity in the founding team is super important.”
4. Follow-up
“If an entrepreneur sends a pitchdeck to an investor, lots of times there is no follow up that comes through. This is because either the entrepreneur forgets or they assume that the investor is not interested. My advice is to shoot a note maybe after a couple of weeks checking on whether they received your pitchdeck, what they think, and any feedback they could share. There is a difference between stalking an investor and simply seeking helpful feedback
Kanini continues to make an impact as Board member at MCE Social Capital, Chair at Amref Health Innovations, board member at United Nations Capital Development Fund, and the immediate former Board Chair of the Global Innovation Fund.
From your own experience pitching or being pitched to, what are the common mistakes made when pitching?
