Avoiding common pitch deck mistakes is our immense ability. If we still get some errors when pitching our business plans, don’t expect too much to win potential investors. This article shows us about 20 typical pitch deck mistakes to assure the project runs for us as a worthy tool for designing the most efficient strategy. Please go check them out.
List of 20 Most Common Pitch Deck Mistakes
1. Dull slides
It is not shocking if the design has shown its unique position. Our slide design is a must-have piece that shouldn’t be neglected. It sets the expression for every inch of our slide and can either stimulate our audiences or leave them sleepy. To put the logo or something on a white slide, we suggest reading about the minimalist concept. On top of that, make it strike with exact hues and design elements to improve our brand look.
2. Text-heavy slides
Typography is an indispensable component. All designers must comprehend that text’s hierarchy and consistency are necessary parts of our deck. And we have understood that putting too much text is monotonous. Make audiences welcome to us instead of reading our slides. Instead of applying some texts, we can replace them with charts and infographics.
3. No call-to-action
Not only for websites, apps, and social media platforms, which need a call-to-action button but also pitch decks. Every CTA should come at the bottom of our deck and is the place where we need to reveal our audience about the action, the review, and the decision concisely.
4. Lots of bullet points
Our investors are hectic people and don’t have the time to perceive the entire pitch with 50+ slides. So, perform it short at least 10-15 slides and only require the relevant points. Arouse our audience’s curiosity and hold the discussion working with fewer bullet points.
5. Mediocre graphic elements
Our job can be wrapped by a designed deck, even if we tell our best idea and powerful message. We can look for a professional designer if needed to avoid ugly designs. Another way to solve this is to download custom-built templates with a lot of fantastic styles. After finishing our work, don’t forget to ask your colleagues to give you some feedback.
6. Disorganized layout
Exposing the data in a chaotic layout can be very complicated. Accordingly, our pitch deck should be prepared systematically for a ridiculous result. We strive to acquaint our company, explain the problem, solve the issue for a better outlook than the competitors, and display our future expectations. Make sure that we can resolve it step-by-step.
7. Not highlighting the risk
Sometimes we are over-satisfied, and it is too critical when we drown in this position. We have to recognize that many rivals give rise to some business risks, especially when pitching for financing. Consequently, it is our job to impersonate these risks and what is the plan to overcome them. Instead of hiding the outcome, we should show our solutions for tackling them successfully. Our investors will relish our strength to go ahead with possible issues.
8. Neglecting competitors
It is an attractive and pitch deck mistake as hell to pretend like we don’t care about rivals. Leaving out any information about our competitors will make us arrogant. Be honest about our opponents and what they do famously. Also, use this opportunity to set ourselves apart and show them why we are better than others.
9. Being arrogant
Just as in the previous point, we are telling our loftiness will turn down our potential investors. Even though we have perfect plans and beautiful slides, our attitude and the way we talk are still taking a crucial part. Never share our bad-mouth about our competitors and stay humble.
10. Messy charts
Charts, graphs, and tables are great to display our data. Don’t create the mistake of packing too much data into a single slide, making the analysis hard to think. Go for simplicity and cleanness to captivate our audience at first sight. To do that, break down high-level information into multiple slides.
11. Cliché content
Our investors hate tacky things for sure. That is why avoid cliché like explaining our company as simple as “What is Biology? Biology isn’t math”. Find an excellent way to present our concept, build storytelling, and attract emotions. In the same way, keep a note that investors can be so critical. So, make sure to know our content better than anyone else.
12. Lacks of branding
If we want to stand out, we polish our pitch deck by making it a seamless and well-to-do result. Besides that, we can achieve this by using suitable fonts, colors, icons, layout, and images that match our brand’s look and feel. Include your logo and tagline as well.
13. No team profile
Behind a great project, there will always be a great team. Our investors will ask, “Who is behind our successful product?” It is not hard to convince them by introducing our team. By showing our team, we can appreciate the people that offer ideas for the goods.
14. Terrible animations and transitions
PowerPoint presents a diversity of animation and transition options we can utilize on our slides. One of the most common pitch deck mistakes overlaps with these, which makes our deck extremely unprofessional without dismissing the message. Attach simplistic animations like wipes and fades, create consistency changes through the entire deck, and avoid unnecessary sounds.
15. Irrelevant problems
Our pitch deck proposes to present the analysis problem of our company. If we show the question incorrectly, then the investors won’t learn more about our problem when giving some solution. Thus, it will create a misunderstanding between both parties. Let’s engage with our audience’s emotions by using SWOT tables. They will be excited about showing their interest and learning how we solve the problem and how they help us overcome our company’s issues.
16. Ambiguous plans
To counter ambiguous plans, we can formulate a clear roadmap by using Miro to brainstorm. With it, our investors will not feel anxious when funding our company. When asking for pitching an investment, be very clear about where those funds will be used precisely. Nevertheless, we can express this as a percentage of the total secured investment.
17. Uncorrelated visual
Our pitch deck should combine visual support with our verbal pitch. Our pitch deck also shouldn’t need to stand alone and be used as our cue cards. If we need to leave something for our audience as their references, don’t provide copies of the slides, instead of creating the handout covering our pitch and all the necessary details.
18. Low-quality images
Low-quality images can create unprofessionalism and is an attractive way to turn off investors. Our deck is a reflection of our company with the overall quality we make. Hence we must use high-quality images over our deck. Stop adding amateur photos, and if it is possible to hire a professional to make sure everyone looks good if we plan to include our team’s headshots.
19. Too old-fashioned
Investors like for new and innovative thoughts to look at. If our pitch deck looks out-of-date, we are likely to be skipped instantly by them. Try to avoid old colors and cheesy effects like 3D bevels, shapes, and lens flares in the best way. Start designing current trends such as modern design elements and simple graphics. Do you feel like you can’t do it all? Hire a designer for professional support.
20. No product demo
Are you serious about creating a pitch deck without a demo? You will regret it. Without a good demo, it can be challenging for investors to grasp our product and idea. A demo could be a screenshot, a mockup, or a video. Notwithstanding our delivery method, it will help potential investors to get acquainted with our product.
Summary
If we need to gain adequate funding for our business, we should take the time and effort to reach a genuinely appealing and compelling pitch deck. All in all, the answer is to be well qualified. Hopefully, these tips will help us avoid common pitch deck mistakes and change our better idea of pitching the investors.
Author bio
This article is written by Ulfah, content and copywriter and is currently working for rrgraphdesign. Find her on LinkedIn.
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