Stop turning your pitch deck into Frankenstein's monster

A climate founder I know reworks his pitch deck every other week. It’s getting worse.

He searches for the decks of other founders who have raised, finds something cool in them and adds it to his deck.

He calls it "learning" and "pivoting".

But the deck becomes worse and worse – it’s a Frankenstein’s monster of ideas, concepts, loud phrases and images.

You can tell by the questions investors ask:

• "So what is it you are doing?"
• "What problem are you solving?"
• "Who are your clients?"

If investors can’t get the basics from your deck, something’s wrong with it.

Instead of looking for shortcuts, chasing a magic ingredient that worked for someone and squeezing it into your deck – do your homework and build the foundation:

• Research what your ideal investors focus on
• Understand what information they need and in what format
• Explain clearly what problem your startup solves and for whom
• Distill your business model and make sure your revenue projections are not pure fiction
• Calculate the real-world impact of your business (environmental, social, etc.)
• Conduct proper market and competitor research (no, no, don’t just ask Claude – DO it yourself)
• Get real-life user feedback (ideally in $$$), and adjust your offer and model so they are aligned with reality

Hard?
Yeah!

Nobody said it would be easy.

But this is the fastest way to move your business forward.

Otherwise, you are just running on a hamster wheel, spending time and moving nowhere.