- Persuade & Raise
- Posts
- Bad Advice: Use a Memo, not a Pitch Deck
If anyone wants to advertise in my newsletters, reply to this email. I’ll be offering discounted rates for the next week to all subscribers.
Use a Memo, not a Pitch Deck
Read time 0.6 minutes.
Today I want to start a short series where the next few newsletters, I will be going over some of the pitching advice that has been shared with me recently (mostly from subscribers uncertain about the advice they see online).
I’ve never used a pitch deck to fundraise. 👀🌶️
Instead, I kicked off every raise with a Memo. (And brought in over $42M for Rupa with 15+ term sheets 🤯)
Here’s why I think founders should use memos more (and not always decks):
— Tara Viswanathan (@TaraViswanathan)
2:00 PM • Jul 18, 2023
This is horrible advice. After reading this, I reached out to a few VC friends, who all said they love when founders do this because it saves them a lot of time.
Translation: They take fewer meetings with founders who do this.
 | Ready to put compliance on autopilot and get back to building world-class products? Vanta’s Compliance for Early Stage Startups pairs growing companies with one of our trusted partners to help you get audit-ready. |
Why?
A pitch deck gives them a teaser and lets you come in and close the deal in person. By giving them a 5+ page memo with every single possible argument you have for them to invest, they can easily make a decision without ever needing to ask you a question, take a meeting or interact with you.
Always use a Teaser or Attention deck to get a meeting and (if you need visual aids) a Pitch Deck while talking. Then if you want to use a memo once the firm is interested, you can (and it can help then), but use a memo from the start.
Do you use memos when fundraising? |
Do you want a chance to be featured across my newsletter network, reaching over 5,000 investors and 90,000 subscribers for free?
Tweet @LawyerLiam with a review of this newsletter or, better yet, share how you are implementing what I share to benefit your business!
Onwards and Upwards,
P.S. Are you ready to take the next step in raising venture capital for your company? If so, you can book a 1:1 strategy call with me to help get you going in the right direction!
P.P.S If you aren’t already, follow me on Twitter, where I share tips and tricks for fundraising daily.