- Persuade & Raise
- Posts
- ♞ Ditch Templates
In partnership with
Ditch Templates
Pitch templates are as old as pitching itself. For generations, people have relied on templates when pitching ideas. This problem has become more pronounced in the last generation of tech founders, who have a significant overreliance specifically on the templates offered by Y-Combinator and Sequoia.
Today, I will review why you should NEVER use a pitch template.
Beat Black Friday with BILL
Get the deal of the year for you and your business when you choose the BILL Divvy Card + expense management software, AND an exclusive gift when you take a demo. Move over, Black Friday.
Choose BILL Spend & Expense to help your business:
Reap rewards with reliable cash back rates
Create virtual cards that help protect from fraud & overspending
Control spending with customizable budget controls
Take a demo by the end of the month and take home a Nintendo Switch, Apple AirPods Pro, Samsung 50" TV, or Xbox Series S—your choice1 .
1Terms and Conditions apply: See offer page for more details.
Card issued by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC, and is not a deposit product.
Pitching is a game of outliers—less than 1% of companies seeking venture capital raise money. That means you need to be better than 99% of other founders. Templates are inherently designed to build decks that are good but not great. Like any “standardized” solution, they are never as good as a custom one, but they ensure that there is at least a baseline level of competence. If you want to avoid embarrassing yourself, a template is great; it also virtually guarantees you won’t raise either.
Repetitiveness - When investors see the exact same pitch again and again, they zone out. This also applies to pitch formats, when you can predict when the highs and lows are coming you don’t have a reason to pay attention. Having something different incentivizes the investor to give you their attention.
Prioritization - Each company has a unique selling point that will convince investors to back the business. For some its their team, for others its their technology, problem or solution. If you follow a template, you don’t get to choose what to prioritize in your pitch. By the time you get to your unique selling point, you might have already lost the VC. A custom deck allows you to prioritize information to be presented in the optimal order.
Do you use a pitch template? |
Get your news where Silicon Valley gets its news 📰
The best investors need the information that matters, fast.
That’s why a lot of them (including investors from a16z, Bessemer, Founders Fund, and Sequoia) trust this free newsletter.
It’s a five minute-read every morning, and it gives readers the information they need ASAP so they can spend less time scrolling and more time doing.
Are you looking to grow your business? Here is how I can help:
📱 Book a Strategy Call to get 1:1 feedback on your pitch, pitch deck and/or fundraising strategy. (If you need general startup advice, then reply to this email, and I’ll let you know if/how I can help.)
Onwards and Upwards,
|
