Talk abounds in the industry as to what you should look for in a quality pitch. Entrepreneurs seek out this information as they understand the pitch can make or break the deal when it comes to raising funds from angels. Not all entrepreneurs are diligent enough to prepare a winning presentation however, and can take the easy way out by throwing information together and hoping for a bite.
Carmine Gallo wrote a hilarious piece on how to give a lousy presentation. [1] We wanted to put a more serious spin on it as the points he mentioned are just a few of the pet peeves shared by angels.
Sure, incredibly bright founders mightn’t be slick marketing guys, but as RRE Venures’ James Robinson IV put it, “how well entrepreneurs put together their plan and their pitch deck, the thoughtfulness that went into each section, the attention to detail, the amount of real homework done, etc., definitely helps to separate the wheat from the chaff.”
Without further ado, some common presentation pet peeves are:
- Misspelled words. Yes, it is true that spell check can’t catch everything – especially homonyms – but this is just pure laziness. Even someone who struggles with the math portion of the pitch should at least get the spelling right.
- Distracting color combinations. You may or may not want to base your decision on whether or not the orange on purple really works, but this is too much of an eye sore to keep you concentrate on what he’s pitching.
- Using inconsistent fonts. Perhaps this is a demonstration of the entrepreneur’s creativity, but inconsistencies can cost you money when it translates to the business.
- Using a really small font size. Some would say this is just mean, but it can also signal the entrepreneur’s inability to summarize. Is the font too small because he tried to fit in too much information?
- Inserting improperly sized photos that are stretched to fit the slide. Blurry, cheap photos just scream money making opportunity, don’t they? Will the entrepreneur use the same approach in labeling a product with the company name? Yikes!
- Looking completely and totally disinterested. If the entrepreneur isn’t interested in his own idea, why in the world would you be? Take this as a sign as to how the company will be handled and run for the door.
- Looking disheveled. Yes, entrepreneurs tend to be free thinkers and hate to conform to societal rules regarding the way they dress. This is fine when they are in their office, but not in yours. They should respect you enough to dress properly (e.g. clean and neat) for the occasion.
- Reading every word of each slide. The only thing worse would be if the entrepreneur turned his or her back on you and stutters the slides word for word.
- Not bothering with a backup plan. An entrepreneur ready to make you money is also ready in the event all things are not optimal at presentation time. If a connection fails or a disc produces an error, a backup plan should be in place or they are not ready for your money. This shows the entrepreneur’s preparedness and awareness of foreseeable “crisis” when he’s in business in the future.
- Failing to practice. This is just disrespectful of your time.
- Calling attention to mistakes. Yes, mistakes can happen and you may even be able to let them slide. Even better, you might not have even noticed them unless the entrepreneur pointed them out.
- Opening with an offensive or off-color joke. The pitching session ends right at the moment he opens his mouth.
- Using wild animations. Such flamboyant approaches to PowerPoint may be fun in a classroom; they don’t belong in the boardroom. You can easily set this aside if all else is perfect – as long as it doesn’t give you a headache.
- Using cartoon clip art. Entrepreneurs who’ve done any research on how to give a presentation should know better than to use a cartoon clip art.
- Using ancient presentation software. You are looking for progressive innovation to invest in. If the entrepreneur tells you he’s relying on the old because it “meets the need,” you have to wonder about his potential of becoming a leader in tech given that open source software and platform are free for the taking.
Will you be able to see past them to move forward or will you read into the signs to see the bigger issue?
Note:
[1] How to Give a Lousy Presentation
