Courtesy of Almanac

One of the biggest mistakes Nathan sees entrepreneurs make in their pitch decks is introducing their product in the first slides. Instead, they should tell a story to create empathy around the trend, customer, and pain points.

Courtesy of Almanac

According to Nathan, a founder's goal should be to tell investors how the world is changing and communicate what they see in the future. Almanac's pitch deck achieves this goal by priming investors for the solution the company is building. "There's already a group of people who are living in the future who are developers and everybody else is living in this past that is very, very painful," he said.

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

After the introduction, the next slides should tee up the problem you're solving without talking about your product yet.

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Then, show how your team is positioned to lead the company

Once you've laid out the trend and problem, investors want to know why your team is positioned to solve it and lead a company. Investors are betting on the decision-making abilities of the founding team more than they're betting on the product, Nathan said. "Every experienced investor knows that the product's going to change. They're really trying to assess, do I trust this person to be able to recognize when to shift and then to be able to execute well through that pivot," he said. Nathan built a strong management team early on, which showed investors that he could recruit high-caliber leaders. "Beyond raising money and setting a vision, the number one job of a CEO is to recruit a team," he said.

Illustrate traction by showing existing customers

After showcasing the team, Almanac's next slide talks about the customers already on board and provides quotes from them to illustrate traction. The results of the product will speak louder than the product itself, Nathan said. "People care about the product but only if it really works."

Talk about your product through the lens of the investor

Nathan said the third major set of slides finally brings in your product and how it solves the aforementioned problem. He talked first about market size and trends, which in Almanac's case is the transition of professional work to digital platforms, with 100 million people moving to online work. In Nathan's experience, market is the most important factor for most early-stage investors. "Most investors believe that an average product in a huge market will still be a bigger success than an extraordinary product in a small market," he said.

Courtesy of Almanac

An effective pitch will understand the mindset of the investor who ultimately wants assurance that the business can generate thousands in returns. That's why Almanac framed many of its product slides around the potential objections and questions investors might have. For example, slide seven explains how Almanac works as a hub for documents with a searchable database and structured collaboration. One objection investors may have is how the company would source this information. Slide ten goes on to show how Almanac quickly sources its knowledge from credible contributors at top companies. Similarly, slide 11 gives a demo of how versioning and branching works with documents instead of code. And slide 12 shows the features that facilitate a seamless workflow and organization.

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Courtesy of Almanac

Nathan said entrepreneurs make the common mistake of serving their own objectives in their decks to show off how great their products are. Instead, he advises to design a deck around the data points investors need to say yes and strip out anything that doesn't serve that purpose. "Think about an investor who walks into a room with our PowerPoint on the screen. They're probably skeptical. They may be tired. They've probably seen a lot of decks. And what we want to do at the end of the meeting is to get them to yes."