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Overdesigning your deck
One criticism I often hear in VC circles that never seems to get passed down to Founders is the problem with overdesigning your deck. Many founders know that if your deck is poorly designed, it can reflect negatively on the company and make the content difficult to read.
What founders don’t seem to get told is that VCs also look down on companies that overdesign their deck. A general feeling among VCs is that when your deck is way too well designed, you either (i) have the wrong priorities or (ii) are working to cover flaws.
The reason for these beliefs is simple. A deck isn’t something you should be spending 100+ hours on. Especially not the design. The content of a deck can be repurposed in the marketing, branding and messaging of the company, the design rarely is. So’s a red flag if your design is so good that investors feel you spent a disproportionate amount of time or money on the deck.
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What is the right balance?
The extent of design that I recommend is the following:
Make the content clear and easy to read - Design should help investors easily see and understand what is/isn’t important on each slide.
Share branding - Using company colours, logos, and universal designs, will help you show investors what the brand will look/feel like.
Authenticity - If you have some complex slides with deep tech being explained, don’t over design that slide; it just doesn’t fit. Have each slide designed in the way that an “expert” writing that slide would design it. Tech slides are simpler, and market/financial slides are simpler. Opening/closing can be more intricate designs. Stay authentic and relatable to the content.
Do you overdesign your deck? |
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