A few weeks ago I was giving a pitching class at an incubator and the manager of the incubator at the end of the session said that’s all fine but we have a structure. They must stick to it and that’s how it is done. Your way of doing it is nice but we cannot let them do it that way.

“Excuse me?”  The pitch deck structure is not meant to be rigid.  It is there to provide a framework so that entrepreneurs can tell a story about their projects.  In fact, the pitch deck is only there for a full document that can be emailed. It is not meant to be used in live presentations. As pitch decks grow in size and complexity and are equally the same, it is just one boring FART after another. (Excuse the language). I call it FART because in most cases the entrepreneurs can hardly express themselves and communicate. It is more than often a disintegrated – START – STOP mixed with PAUSES of UNCERTAINTY in how to explain an issue or WHAT TO SAY. Not to mention the pitch deck that is full of text and irrelevant images that are useless to the message.

Now that I have had my rant, here is what I think.  If you as an entrepreneur present the same FART as all the others then may the best FART win, but what if you dare to be different. If you dare to be different and tell a coherent story, you stand a chance of standing out from the crowd.  More than that your objective is to make sure you tell a story that people can follow, understand, answer their messages as they pop up in their heads and keep their attention. It takes courage to be different and all you need to do is listen to some good pitching presentation and you will see that they are telling an uninterrupted story.

The Pitch Deck is perfect as a standard for creating a document that is emailed to investors for them to review and that is where the standard and format is perfect.  However, just like any movie director will tell you even the best books need a plethora of film directors and assistants to make it into a good movie.  Your pitch deck just like a good book needs converting into a story, and this is where I can guarantee you that once you turn it into a story you will have no trouble standing in front of any crowd and the crowd will have no problem in following and comprehending your project.

Will you dare to be different?  Courage is what you need in startup.  If you practice at this early stage then you will build up the courage to change more things in the world and along your path. In the meantime, here is a link to my previous blogs for turning a FART into a compelling story.