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- ♞ Common Problems: Traction
Today, we continue the 10-issue series in which I discuss the most common problems that I see on each slide in founders’ pitch decks. Today’s issue will look at the Traction Slide.
What is the most common problem with the Traction Slide?
Very simply, there are three problems with traction slides:
You don’t have traction
You present the wrong/fake traction
You don’t place it properly within the deck
Problems with the traction slide are extremely common, largely because founders either (i) understand the importance and use this as the slide where they are willing to take liberties with the truth, (ii) overvalue their innovation and undervalue traction, meaning they either leave this out completely or have suboptimal slide placement.
Let’s look at how to solve these three problems.
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If you don’t have traction, then you need to go to first principles and find some form of traction to share. Traction is just proof that you have some evidence that your company will work. Even if you don’t have sales, you can run a survey. Do something so that you are more than a person with an idea. You need to find some evidence that there is demand for your product or that people believe in you/your team/your company.
Anything that doesn’t prove that the market is accepting your solution is not traction. Getting into an accelerator is not traffic. Getting funding from your university is not funding. Don’t try to bullshit this. It makes you look immature and unfit to raise capital. It’s better to say you have none than to pretend that investor signals or third party funding is equivalent to market acceptance.
If you have strong traction and not much else, then your traction should be placed early in the deck. I’ve seen decks with incredible traction, but it's the last slide, and 50 %+ of investors didn’t even get to it before clicking off. If you have great traction, then you need to get that into the deck early; it will earn investors’ respect and give them more reason to trust you and believe in you as they read the deck.
Does your deck feature any of these common problems? |
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Onwards and Upwards,
