Hi, everyone. This is Alejandro Cremades, and today we’re going to be talking about
how to improve storytelling in a pitch deck. Before we get started, make sure that you
hit that Subscribe button, and this way, you will never miss out on any of the videos that
we roll out every week. A great story is key to anything, whether
that is onboarding investors, whether that is onboarding customers or even onboarding
A+ team members that you want to bring to your team. Without a story, there is nothing.
In today’s video, I’m going to be breaking it down for you and how to bring the essence
of that storytelling in your pitch deck so that you’re able to get in front of investors
and really captivate their attention and doing it with a bang. In today’s video, again,
I find that you’re going to get all this value. You’re going to find a step-by-step,
and it’s all about making sure in those 2 minutes and 41 seconds when you have the
attention of the investors when they’re reviewing your pitch deck that you’re above
to really get them excited. With that being said, let’s get into it.
Storytelling makes all the difference when it comes to fundraising success. Here’s
the thing: it’s all about the future and possibilities. That’s why the investor is
investing in you. They’re not so much betting on the historicals because the past is in
the past. What they’re betting on is the present and then also the future. That’s
why you want to get them excited. It’s like when you read a book, and they’re
telling you what they ate that day, or even what weather it was that day. They make you
feel part of that moment. What you want to do with the investor is to remember that they’re
investing in you. They want to invest in being part of the journey, so you need to make them
be part of it somehow so that they get really excited.
This is like a movie, at the end of the day. You need to walk them slowly through what
that story is. Don’t be all over the place. Don’t try to overwhelm them with information
to make sure that they get it. You just need to give them the story right and do it in
a concise way because that attention span is very small.
A great story is one that is emotional and one that inspires action. Here’s an example.
I remember, some years ago, I was at a panel judging a pitch deck competition. One of the
people that was presenting, she was an amazing founder that pitched this story that left
everyone breathless or speechless. Essentially what she said was that when she
was growing up in her family, one of her sisters had an imbalance mentally and that they needed
to find a physician, a psychologist, or a psychiatrist. As a result of this, the family
really struggled a lot to find the right type of individual. The way that she was sharing
her story, the way that she was able to capture the essence literally brought all the attendees
to tears. This is an amazing example of how you can
move, touch, and inspire the people that are in front of you. You want to be able to share
a story that is relatable to them. Maybe they’ve actually experienced that situation directly
or indirectly, and that’s how you get people excited about what you’re doing. You need
to get that action out of them. Storytelling is part of the financial story
as well. The reason for this is that you’re going to be projecting a story over the course
of time with the numbers, and that’s whether it’s going to be a three-year projection,
a five-year projection, and you want to be able to put it in a way that is digestible
for the investor and very easy to see. Not just like grabbing a screenshot and throwing
it on your pitch deck. You want to be able to slowly walk them through.
If you need to break down the financials into different slides on your pitch deck, that’s
totally fine. You could even put three to five slides where you can break down the EBITDA,
the revenues, and the income, whatever that is, or even the number of customers on how
that is growing over time. But don’t overwhelm people and try to capture it all in one single
slide. Make it easy for them so that they can see the story over the course of time.
In the story, if they are asking you for certain numbers, and you don’t remember them, that’s
totally okay. Don’t try to make them up because that’s not going to put you in a
good spot. Just send them a note later to thank them for the meeting, and then say,
“By the way, the numbers that you asked for are…” Whatever that is, but don’t
make it up on the spot. The problem part of the story is a big one.
This is your Why. Remember that there where you experienced that problem for the first
time and how you incubated the idea of a potential solution that would cover that gap to that
problem and how that incubated over the course of time. Perhaps there was one single event
that pushed you over the edge to say, “You know what? This is the time to actually do
something about this,” and that’s the moment where you decided to take action. That’s
exactly the way that you want to bring that problem to their attention, and that’s Why
– the Why that is driving your passion and the Why that is driving the culture, as well,
of the company that you’re looking to build. The team story is also a key one. Here, what
you want to do is, you want to share with the investor how you’re all coming together.
How did the founding team come together? How did you guys meet? Why do you share that same
passion toward the problem that you’re looking to resolve? What makes them capable to actually
bring their expertise, their thought leadership, their skillset into the execution and into
the 18 to 24-month roadmap that you’re looking to put and implement over the course of time.
These are the things that the investor likes to see and hear.
Without vision, there’s nothing – there’s no culture, there is no being in sync, on
the same page with your team members. There has to be a clear vision, and the best way
to think about this is, imagine if you go to sleep tonight and you go to sleep for five
years, and you wake up in a world where the vision of your business, that business that
you like to envision over the course of time; imagine, all of a sudden, everything is realized.
What does that world look like, and what does your business look like?
Once you’re able to answer that for yourself, you have a clear idea of what the vision of
your business is, and you need to get people enrolled in that vision. Everyone needs to
be able to add their own splash of color as part of the team so that everyone really feels
that sense of ownership that the investor wants to have.
Remember to use pictures that tell stories. Here’s a clear example. On the cover slide
of your pitch deck – essentially, people just try to put a logo, they put a name, they
put a phone number, but this is your chance to show the trailer of your movie. Before
you go and watch a movie, you’ve watched a trailer so that you have a good understanding
that it’s going to be a good use of your time to go and watch the movie.
The same thing happens with pitch decks. Since the investor is only going to invest two minutes
and 41 second, they want to get the cover, which is a picture of what you’re doing,
the company in action. Right away, it establishes the expectations for what they are about to
review. You can do this on the cover; you can also
do it throughout the presentation where you’re using certain visuals that are allowing you
to balance the text with the actual images. Obviously, the less text and the more images,
the better, but you want to make sure that you’re not overwhelming whoever is reviewing
the presentation with too many visuals. Storytelling, at the end of the day, is an
art. Obviously, if you’re very technical, or you don’t have the skillset, it’s not
going to be easy. Even the smartest people that I’ve know still have issues with storytelling,
with really bringing people in, sharing that level of detail. So it’s totally fine if
you are not mastering this. What you can do is get a copywriter; you can get a journalist
or a master storyteller that helps you to capture the essence of your business or the
story in a way in which is compelling and in a way in which is exciting.
So, hit a Like on this video. Also, Subscribe to the channel so that you don’t miss out
on all the videos that we’re rolling out every week. Then, also, leave a commit and
let me know how you’re thinking about storytelling. And if you’re raising capital, shoot me
an email at alejandro@pantheraadvisors.com. I would love to help out. Thank you so much
for watching.