turning stuck into story
creating a legendary STORY is an adventure - one that needs a map to keep you from getting stuck. Here's mine.
Oh um...yes, that's my boat stuck in the river. and It's a good story;)
1. plan
Getting strategy right
If your product's boring, your market's crowded, and your team's full of bozos...well. But many times, startups have the ingredients of a great story but aren't sure how to combine them. So my first step is always to dig in and understand all I can about your technology, your customers, your competitors, your team, and your story. We may have to address some fundamental positioning issues before we build our first slide.
2. build
outline,
design,
repeat
When building a investor positioning, iteration is more important than (initial) accuracy. Our first draft is going to suck. Our second draft is going to suck...but a little less. We're not going to ship it until it's right but in between it's going to look messy. We'll create an outline, rough in some slides and try things on for size. Then we'll throw out half our work and start again. What's left over after several iterations will be a solid body of slides - but a body needs a soul to become legendary.
3. pitch
your deck,
Your voice,
your story
We'll take the time to rehearse the deck and the message until it feels easier to say the right thing than to fumble. In the process, we may have to change the slides so that they perfectly match your rhythm as a speaker. If the slides aren't right for you, then they aren't right. Also, investors may love slides we thought were just ok and be baffled by slides we thought were simple. We'll take all the feedback we can get and make improvements for the next round.
Can I Bring MY Own Designer?
Absolutely! My main job is not to make a deck that's pretty but to make a deck that gets the check - that tells the story, that sells. I have good design sense and I've designed and built a lot of decks that have raised a lot of money. I know that a legendary deck has to look nice. But I'm usually adopting the fonts, colors and visual themes from the company I'm working with. And where possible, I'm also adopting custom graphics and other visuals. I'm assuming you have a designer already and I'm more than happy to work with your designer to make the deck reflect your brand style. If ALL you really want is a pretty deck, then you're probably better off finding someone on Fiverr.