If you’re pitching at a startup event this fall, one of the easiest mistakes is bringing the same deck you normally send to investors.
That deck may work perfectly well over email, but on stage, it has a different job.
A startup event pitch deck is there to support you while you speak. Your standard investor deck is designed to be read. On stage, the audience should be listening to you, not trying to read paragraphs or decode charts on the screen.
So before you take your usual investor deck and simply cut a few slides, rethink how it works for a live pitch.
A few things I recommend:
- Pick one message for the whole pitch
You have very limited time, so decide what you actually want investors to remember.
What is your investment case? What is the most important thing you want to show? If someone remembers only one thing about your company after the event, what should it be?
That becomes the main idea behind your pitch.
- Build the pitch around that one idea
Once you know the main message, think about the clearest way to explain it.
What does the audience need to understand first? What evidence supports your argument? What needs to come next for the story to make sense?
Then split that story into slides.
- Let the slides support what you’re saying
You don’t need to put your whole argument on the screen.
Use fewer words. Keep one main message on each slide. Highlight the most important point instead of writing every claim, explanation, or detail.
Your slides should make your pitch easier to follow, not compete with you for attention.
This is probably the biggest difference between a regular investor deck and a startup event pitch deck.
- Don’t try to explain everything
You have a few minutes, not a few hours.
You probably won’t have time to explain every part of your technology, every feature, every market segment, or the complicated diagram you love.
Choose what matters for this pitch and leave the rest for the conversations afterward.
- Keep your charts simple
A chart should make your point easier to understand immediately.
Don’t make the audience study the chart and figure out what they’re supposed to notice. Point out the number, trend, or comparison that matters.
Sometimes one or two well-presented numbers are better than a complicated chart.
- Prepare your first and last 20 seconds especially well
Your opening decides whether people pay attention, and your ending helps determine what they remember.
Don’t spend the beginning introducing yourself for too long. Start with something that brings the audience into the story.
And know exactly how you want to finish.
- Prepare for the questions you don’t want to get
Write down the ten questions you would be most nervous about hearing after the pitch and prepare your answers.
You don’t need to know everything. If you genuinely don’t know the answer, say so. Then explain how you would find out or what you already know around the question.
A clear, honest answer is much better than trying to improvise something you can’t defend.
- Have backups for the deck
Make sure everything works properly on the event screen before you present.
Export a PDF. Keep a copy locally on your computer. Email it to yourself. Have another version somewhere you can access quickly.
The presentation should not depend on one internet connection, one laptop, or one file.
- If you’re doing a demo, have a fallback
Live demos fail.
The internet can disappear. The product can suddenly behave differently. Something that worked perfectly ten minutes earlier can stop working the moment you’re on stage.
Have screenshots, a short recording, or another way to show the important part of the demo if something goes wrong.
- Don’t read your slides
If you’re reading what is already on the screen, the audience doesn’t need you there.
The slide should support what you’re saying, not become your script.
- Practice your speaking speed
On stage, stress can make you speak much faster than usual.
Sometimes people know this, overcorrect, and end up speaking unnaturally slowly instead.
The easiest way to avoid both is to practice your pitch out loud several times before the event. You should know how the pitch sounds, where you naturally pause, and how long each section takes.
- Remember what the event is really for
The stage is often just the introduction.
The useful conversations, investor meetings, and follow-ups usually happen afterward.
So before you step on stage, have three things ready: a deck you can send immediately, a link to your product or demo, and an easy way for someone to book time with you.
A good startup event pitch deck doesn’t need to explain your entire company.
It needs to make the right people want the next conversation.
P.S. If you have an important pitch coming up and need help with the deck, let’s talk.
I’ve worked with founders preparing for Antler, Techstars, TechCrunch Disrupt, and other startup events 👉 deckstudio.co
